This appeared today.
Health Minister Peter Dutton to let private health pay for seeing doctor
- May 01, 2014
- By Sue Dunlevy National Health Writer
- News Corp Australia
GENERAL Practitioners could be paid more to treat the sickest patients under a major overhaul being planned by the Federal Government.
…..
The $1 billion e-health plan funded by the previous government has so far been a flop with most doctors refusing to upload patient records onto the system and only a tiny portion of the population has signed up for a record.
Mr Dutton last year commissioned an inquiry into the scheme and the report has been on his desk since December.
Today he will commit to the continued roll out of the record “with practical application and a genuine desire to work with and not against doctors”.
……
Full article is here:
I will leave you to work out what that actually means. Of course we still have not seen the PCEHR Review.
The Commission of Audit report (released today) and the Budget (12 days away) will show just how serious a commitment exists.
I suspect we may see another move to a ‘change management strategy’ as we did with HealthConnect.
Time will tell.
David.
Post Script:
Here is another link with more detail.
http://www.itnews.com.au/News/384244,dutton-confirms-govt-will-keep-pcehr.aspx
D.
Post Script:
Here is another link with more detail.
http://www.itnews.com.au/News/384244,dutton-confirms-govt-will-keep-pcehr.aspx
D.
I wonder how they will define "sickest" and how they will identify the "sickest" patients?
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see how far they have thought this through. For example:
1. How many patients will wait until they are really sick before seeing a doctor a) because it will be cheaper and b) because they will get more attention.
2. By paying doctors more to see "sicker" patients, will there be less attention to keeping "less sick" patients even more "unsick".
3. Will short term costs reduce at the expense of longer term costs and the health of the average citizen?
I'm sure there are far more issues to be considered, I just hope they have thought of them all .
The devil is always in the detail - let's see how much detail they provide.
Note: I have used quotes where the concepts are, IMHO, vague. Defining and using these concepts are all about information.