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The following articles have the tag COAG
THE Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) has announced a review of its research methodologies after doubts were raised over the process used to estimate rates of GP-type presentations at emergency departments.
MENTAL health advocates say they will reject the federal government's 10-year road map for the sector unless there are attainable goals in the plan.
STATE governments must follow Queensland and hand over preventive health programs to Medicare Locals (MLs) to advance Labor’s long-held plan for a Commonwealth health takeover, the ML national body has said.
AN ARCHITECT of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) says he remains optimistic it will go ahead, but warned having anyone but the Commonwealth fund it could lead to more changes from the original plan.
THE proportion of people who delayed or did not see a GP because of cost has increased by more than a third since 2009, from 6.4% to 8.7%, according to a new report from the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Reform Council.
GPs are fighting a losing battle trying to have patients admitted to public hospitals for elective surgery, according to experts who have called on the Commonwealth and state governments to come clean about hospital waiting times.
THE proportion of people who delayed or did not see a GP because of cost has increased by more than a third since 2009, from 6.4% to 8.7%, according to a new report from the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Reform Council.
The AGPN has delivered a critical assessment of the federal government’s draft roadmap for mental health care, calling it “too narrow in focus” and saying it “lacks adequate acknowledgement” of GPs’ role in mental health care.
DOCTORS have cautiously thrown their support behind a federal government move to test public opinion before embarking on a 10-year mental health reform “roadmap”.
The Commonwealth has announced a new model of funding for healthcare, but is it enough to revitalise the stalled reform of the sector? Pamela Wilson reports.
The Gillard Government’s decision to increase the number of Medicare Locals (MLs) has received a mixed reaction from the divisions of general practice, with some claiming it will stymie and delay health reform. As part of the revamped COAG deal, Prime Minister Julia Gillard raised the number of MLs beyond the planned 57 to ensure the organisations were more responsive to community needs. But AGPN chair Dr Emil Djakic said the decision would result in weaker, less effective organisations. “Creating a larger number of what will be less capable organisations with a dilution of funding and ...
THE Gillard Government’s decision to increase the number of Medicare Locals (MLs) has received a mixed reaction from the divisions of general practice, with some claiming it will stymie and delay health reform. As part of the revamped COAG deal, Prime Minister Julia Gillard raised the number of MLs beyond the planned 57 to ensure the organisations were more responsive to community needs. But AGPN chair Dr Emil Djakic said the decision would result in weaker, less effective organisations. “Creating a larger number of what will be less capable organisations with a dilution of funding and ...
PRIME Minister Julia Gillard's health funding agreement with the states and territories has received a mixed response from doctors groups, amid warnings the deal could actually stymie reform. After a six-hour meeting with premiers in Canberra on Sunday, Ms Gillard announced a new national pool of state and federal money will fund hospitals from 2012 - effectively dumping Kevin Rudd's 2010 GST-based agreement. The Federal Government will inject $16.4 billion in growth funding into the pool from 2014 to 2020. As part of the new deal agreed to by the states yesterday, the Federal Government will ...
PRIME Minister Julia Gillard has unveiled the Government’s revised health reform plans including a number of sweeteners and concessions aimed at winning over the states ahead of this Sunday’s Council of Australian Governments meeting. As part of the new deal to be put to the states, the Federal Government would expand the number of Medicare locals above the previously planned 57 while increasing the number set to become operational this year. It would also fast-track reforms to after-hours GP care, through which Medicare Locals will plan and support local face-to-face GP after-hours services. The planned clawback ...
PRIME Minister Julia Gillard is reportedly preparing to abandon Labor’s widely criticised proposal to impose four-hour waiting time targets on hospital emergency departments, as she attempts to convince state leaders to sign up to her government’s health reforms. Media reports indicate Ms Gillard is prepared to make key concessions on the Federal Government’s planned reforms. The latest touted concession by the PM to dump the proposed mandatory four-hour waiting time targets for hospitals, reported by News Limited newspapers today, follows advice from doctors and other medical experts who have argued such targets are unachievable. The PM ...
HEALTH Minister Nicola Roxon has denied the $50 billion Council of Australian Governments (COAG) health reforms are collapsing, despite a number of states looking unlikely to agree to the deal as its deadline looms. Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu has signalled he will push for changes to the deal negotiated by his predecessor John Brumby when COAG meets next week on 14 February, while Western Australia has stood firm on its decision not to hand over a portion of its GST to fund the reforms. NSW Liberal Opposition leader Barry O’Farrell – likely to take power in next ...
THE future of the Gillard Government’s broad health system reforms remains in doubt amid growing pressure from health groups and the opposition for Labor to prove its commitment to reform. As Federal Parliament resumes this week, the Australian Health Care Reform Alliance (AHCRA), of which the RACGP and the RDAA are members, has called for the Government to stand by its pledge to deliver health reforms funded by agreements with the states over GST revenue. In recent days the Federal Government has refused to rule out dumping its former leader Kevin Rudd’s proposed suite of health and ...
PRIME Minister Julia Gillard has vowed to push on with the Government’s health reform plans despite the probable election of a coalition government in Victoria following the weekend’s state election. All states except WA have previously agreed to hand over a third of their GST revenue in exchange for Canberra taking over the full responsibility of primary care services. But a Liberal-Nationals coalition, likely to win government from Labor, could jeopardise the plan. With a coalition also poised to steal power from Labor in NSW early next year, Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey last week said it ...
A SENATE inquiry has criticised Labor’s health reform proposals as a “wasted opportunity”, saying the sweeping plans will not end the blame game. The final report of the Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee echoed fears from doctors groups the reforms would add to the bureaucracy while potentially limiting clinician involvement. The recent inquiry into the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) reforms found that far from ending the blame game between the federal and state governments over health system funding, there had been “no fundamental change in the roles and responsibilities of the Commonwealth and the ...
A SENATE inquiry has criticised Labor’s health reform proposals as a “wasted opportunity”, saying the sweeping plans will not end the blame game. The final report of the Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee echoed fears from doctors groups the reforms would add to the bureaucracy while potentially limiting clinician involvement. The recent inquiry into the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) reforms found that far from ending the blame game between the federal and state governments over health system funding, there had been “no fundamental change in the roles and responsibilities of the Commonwealth and the ...
FURTHER evidence has emerged that the Federal Government’s practice nurse funding reforms could backfire, with one practice claiming it is set to lose $120,000 a year and will be forced to reduce bulk-billing as a result of the new scheme. The news comes amid fresh warnings from RDAA CEO Steve Sant that some rural practices will be forced to review and potentially cut back nurse staffing levels under the new practice nurse model. From January 2012 nurse items for Pap smears, wound dressings and immunisations are to be scrapped in favour of block payments to support employing ...
WEST Australian doctors have backed their premier’s decision not to sign up to the Federal Government’s hospitals reform package. With all other states and territories agreeing to the proposed reforms, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said he would work with the nation’s only Liberal Premier to reach a compromise. But he signalled the reform could go ahead without the resistant state. WA Premier Colin Barnett’s refusal to hand over 30% of the state’s GST revenue into a pooled funding arrangement has won support from local doctors. Geraldton GP Dr Murray James-Wallace welcomed the stand. He said little ...
HOPES for reforming the mental health system have suffered a blow, with experts heavily critical of the commitments made at last week’s Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting. Key figures have welcomed the investment in mental health but say the $174 million falls far short of what is needed for genuine change. Australian of the Year Professor Patrick McGorry, from the Centre for Youth Mental Health at the University of Melbourne, said mental health “had missed out”. “When you contrast it with the billions that have been pumped into the system over the last few weeks ...
VICTORIA and Western Australia remain the only two states blocking the Rudd Government’s health reform plan, after NSW Premier Kristina Keneally was swayed to support a deal early on Tuesday morning. Throughout the landmark Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting, Ms Keneally had previously opposed the plan, which would see states and territories relinquish 30% of their GST revenue. The Federal Government has promised to plough the GST revenue back into the health and hospitals system. However, after one-on-one negotiations with Mr Rudd, Ms Keneally has agreed to a proposal that would see states and territories direct ...
THE majority of Australian voters want to see the states sign up to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s controversial health plan at the landmark Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting today, according to the latest Herald/Nielsen poll. The poll of 1400 voters found that 62 per cent believe the premiers and chief ministers should agree to the plan, which would see the Federal Government become the primary funder of health and hospital services. Victoria, NSW and WA have been vocal opponents of the reforms, which would be funded by the Federal Government clawing back one-third of the states’ GST ...
A NEW $63 million national recruitment strategy to place international medical graduates is in danger of being undermined with private and state agencies likely to circumvent federal control of efforts to plug workforce gaps, experts warn. Their warning follows a recent Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agreement to consolidate international recruitment programs run by individual states and territories into one single strategy covering all health professions. COAG documents suggest a national program, due to be in place by September, would reduce infrastructure costs, though little detail was available on how the new scheme would be run or ...
MORE than $1.6 billion will be pumped into Indigenous health care over the next four years as part of a Council of Australian Governments (COAG) push to improve the health of Aboriginal Australians. The new funding will be delivered under a new Indigenous Health national partnership and will be put towards expanding primary health care in Indigenous communities as well as targeted prevention of chronic diseases. Incentives will also be offered to GPs who manage and coordinate the care of Indigenous patients, but full details are yet to emerge. This is just one of several funding ...
A $1.1 billion funding injection for the health workforce has received a cautious welcome but doctor groups are warning that GP supervisors must be a focal point of any funding package if the system is to cope with the influx of new trainees. Last week, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) announced it would spend $86 million to fund 212 extra GP training places as part of the Australian Health Care Agreements. These come in addition to the 175 places announced by health minister Nicola Roxon in November, and will take the total number of places to ...
What’s the hold-up on a national, linked electronic health system? Kathryn Eccles finds out. BEING called to hospital at 2 am to assess a patient with chest pain is part of an average week for Dr Peter Rischbieth. At his most recent early morning call-out, the RDAA president would have been forced to rely on a 73-year-old patient and her relatives for a medical history were it not for his computerised practice. But a few clicks of the mouse were all that was needed to compare the patient’s current ECG with one from a month ...