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Turnbull government unveils Medicare reforms

AAP

AAP

The Turnbull government has unveiled proposed reforms to the health system in an attempt to curb the rate of unnecessary hospitalisations.

In a statement, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Health Minister Sussan Ley said the Healthier Medicare package would provide patients suffering from chronic medical conditions with a tailored health care package.

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Some of the key proposals include:

• The establishment of “Health Care Homes” to co-ordinate medical, allied health and out-of-hospital services for patients

• Improved use of digital health measures for patients The Opposition criticised the plans as ‘rushed’.

• Stronger data collection and the creation of a National Minister Data Set of de-identified information to help measure and benchmark primary health care performance

Primary Health Care Advisory Group chair Dr Steve Hambleton said in a report to Ms Ley that the proposal would provide “continuity of care” for patients by initiating a practice where one doctor would coordinate their entire treatment.

Dr Hambleton said the reform would also involve a team approach with a patient’s family and carers engaged as “partners” in their care.

The initial trials will be made available for up to 65,000 people, but the announcement has been criticised by Opposition Health spokeswoman Catherine King for its lack of detail.

“There’s no money attached to it, no starting date … no detail about who is going to eligible,” she said.

Ms King said that Labor began work on patient-centred medical homes when in government, describing them as conceptually sound but difficult in practice.

The federal government said the trial for 65,000 patients would start on July 1, 2017, and would be cost neutral because those patients were already accessing the services.

Concerns COAG hospital funding deal not enough

Ms King also accused the government of using its “rushed and fairly botched announcement” to distract from COAG negotiations, which will come to a head tomorrow when state and territory leaders meet with the Prime Minister in Canberra.

Mr Turnbull has urged his state and territory counterparts to partner with the Commonwealth on the reforms, citing their potential to reduce inefficiencies in the hospital system.

A multibillion-dollar deal is expected to be reached on hospital funding at COAG, but some leaders are concerned it will not go far enough.

ACT Labor Chief Minister Andrew Barr said he did not expect the package to reverse all of the cuts made by former prime minister Tony Abbott in his government’s first budget, described as “savage” by Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.

ABC

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