Week 2: Health Care in Australia Flashcards
What is the first point of contact with the health care system?
Primary health care (non-hospital services)
True or False: Primary health care is the most common point of contact between individuals and health care services?
True
Funding of primary health care
- largely private for-profit
- public subsidised
- Funded through medicare, PBS, private health insurance, consumer payments
commonwealth role in primary health care?
financing through Medicare and PBS
where do patterns of inequity arise in primary health care?
increase in consumer demand leads to an increase in consumer payment
link between Social work and primary health care?
- focus on broad determinants of health
- coordination, integration of services
- health promotion focus
social work opportunity in primary health care
- navigating complex systems
- analysis of problems in social environments
- limited funding base
use of public hospitals is highest for patients where? why?
in very remote and/or disadvantaged areas
use of private hospitals is highest for patients where?
major cities
increases that result in challenges for public hospitals?
- increase hospitalisations
- increase ‘sub-acute’ patients
- increase waiting times to access outpatient services
- increase focus on expenditure and efficiency and performance reports
Focus of sub-acute services
physical/function improvement and quality of life
funding of sub-acute services
mix private and public providers
- increasing investment in services
when would someone need palliative care services?
serious illness where cure or reversal is no longer possible. controlling symptoms.
true or false. palliative care is just for the person nearing end of life?
false. it is also for family, friends.
funding for palliative care?
diverse network of formal and informal providers.
rate of hospitalisations for palliative care is increasing or decreasing?
increasing.
delivery of alcohol and drug specialist services?
- dominated by non-government sector
- can also be provided through primary health care (GP counselling)
different kinds of settings for mental health specialist services?
- public and private hospitals
- community mental health services
- primary health care services
- residential and rehabilitation facilities
funding of mental health services?
medicare, PBS, state Gov.
increasing investment in mental health services from where?
- non-gov sector (community support programs)
increase in medicare subsidised services may lead to?
areas of potential inequity based on age, geography, income
delivery of aged care services?
array of specialist clinical and non-clinical services
- hospital and primary health services
- dominance of non-gov. sector in community delivery
in age care services there’s an increasing focus on?
community living - home support
government spent 74.5$ billion on health care mostly on:
- public hospitals (29%)
- medical specialists and diagnostic tests (18%)
- GP (14%)
- PBS (14%)
- PHI (8%)
Funding of health: two major sources of funding?
- Gov. major funder (68%)
2. Non- gov.
major source of funding: Non-gov, how?
- out of pocket (fastest growing area)
- benefits from PHI
- third party insurance and compensation schemes
3 dimensions of equity
- access (financial, geo., cultural)
- outcome: differential outcomes
- financial - 2 key programs (medicare, PBS)
issues with equity in the health system
- service fee’s
- availability of bulk-bill services
- differences across geo. areas
- affordability and out-of-pocket costs
- waiting lists
