Health services that are coordinated across the primary, acute and community sectors are the most effective for the community according to reports released today by the COAG Reform Council and the National Health Performance Authority (NHPA).
The reports show that the rate of preventable admissions to hospital is improving, but with large variations across Australia.
"This shows that there is still significant room for improvement,” according to the chief executive of the Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association, Alison Verhoeven.
She also said that waiting times for elective surgery and GP service remain too long.
“With healthcare costs continuing to rise and hospitals struggling to meet increasing demand there have been calls for radical overalls of the funding and governance structures in the Australian health system. But the COAG report shows that the pace of reform is slow.”
Before launching into another round of reform, governments would do well to consider the existing models of care that have steadily been gaining support and credibility over recent years.
Ms Verhoeven says that unnecessarily long stays in hospital and avoidable admissions are clearly areas of waste in the health system that provide the opportunity for better use of resources.
She added that better coordination of care across the primary, acute and community sectors is an important component of improving the efficiency of services.
“The work being done by Medicare Locals in collaboration with Local Hospital Networks is a great example of how the system can be made to work more smoothly and efficiently. Hospital in the Home programs are another excellent example of services that improve efficiency and deliver high quality effective services that are valued by patients and their families,” said Ms Verhoeven.
She said that a key challenge for the Government is to further refine the funding model for services that cross over the traditional boundaries between hospitals and community-based services.
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