Chronic disease in Australia continues to be a major health priority, but is this because of poor primary health care for chronic disease. Health care expenditure and chronic disease go hand in hand in Australia’s health care system. Each year Australia spends over $1 billion planning, coordinating and reviewing the care associated with chronic disease. This includes preventable chronic diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer.
Gratton Institute recently released a report indicating that over 250 000 hospital admissions for chronic disease could have been avoided through better primary health care for chronic disease. The authors of the report, Hal Swerissen and Stephen Duckett believe that this is because “the way we pay for and organise them through Medicare goes against what we know works.”[1] They propose that we move away from the fee-for-service system and move towards: “A broader payment for integrated treatment would help to focus care on patients and long-term outcomes.”[1]
This report says that primary health care for chronic disease “must be planned rather than reactive; it must focus on the patient, rather than on health professionals, and it must focus on outcomes.”[2] The report identifies correctly that changes and prevention based on social and economic conditions is best, though not always possible. It says that primary care for chronic disease can improve through better integrated care, stating that the current health model in Australia is outdated with too great a focus on acute care rather than long-term models.
The report has a number of proposals to fix the current system and believes it will save the government around $322 million a year. These proposals are summarised in the table below.
![source [2]](https://www.pdhpe.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/primary-care-for-chronic-disease.jpg)
source [2]
Sources and further reading (particularly [2]
[1] Hal Swerissen and Stephen Duckett (2016). Chronic Failure in Primary Care. Accessed at http://grattan.edu.au/report/chronic-failure-in-primary-care/ on 7 March 2016 (web post).
[2] Hal Swerissen and Stephen Duckett (2016). Chronic failure in Primary Care. Accessed at http://grattan.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/936-chronic-failure-in-primary-care.pdf on 7 March 2016 (Full Report).
