Health System Sustainability
If GPs pass on cost from rebate freeze, poorer, sicker patients will be hardest hit
27 March 2017
Image 20170124 8085 p0tj0d Not even a fortnight in the job and the newly appointed health minister, Greg Hunt, is already facing pressure from medical organisations[https://ama.com.au/sites/default/files/documents/180117%20-%20AMA%20Welcomes%20New%20Health%20Minister.pdf] to scrap the controversial freeze on Medicare rebate indexation....
Citizen power can drive mental health reform
27 March 2017
Image 20170308 14963 1rihxap Citizen panels and juries around the world are having their say about how health funding is prioritised and allocated. The Conversation It’s time this happened in Australia, particularly...
Will punishing medical errors improve safety?
27 March 2017
Image 20170315 11529 55nnk5 Australian public hospitals will soon be penalised for serious errors, with the aim of improving the quality and safety of health services. The punitive measure was a core proposal...
Here’s how much it would cost the government to pay everyone who takes care of family with mental illness
23 March 2017
Image 20170321 5408 184jzfx Primary carers for people with mental illness in Australia do so for an average 36 hours per week – yet this work is not officially acknowledged and largely...
Why do specialists get paid so much and does something need to be done about it?
07 March 2017
Image 20170306 919 1i4qbsr This week the Medical Journal of Australia[https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2017/206/4/variation-outpatient-consultant-physician-fees-australia-specialty-and-state-and] published a paper[https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2017/206/4/variation-outpatient-consultant-physician-fees-australia-specialty-and-state-and] and commentary[https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2017/206/4/variation-fees-medical-specialists-problems-causes-solutions] that highlighted the huge variation in specialists’ fees and the associated out-of-pocket costs for patients. High specialist fees in this country, and...
Sobering health stats in latest Productivity Commission report
01 February 2017
Image 20170201 12649 wemiz8 New health minister Greg Hunt probably choked over his breakfast cereal this morning as he read the blandly titled Report on Government Services 2017[http://www.pc.gov.au/research/ongoing/report-on-government-services/2017/health], released by the Productivity Commission[http://www.pc.gov.au/] today. The...
