The Use of Australian Health Care Services by Overseas Visitors: Some Data-Related Problems for Policy Makers

1992 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 51-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Barraclough ◽  
Carol McBain
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Federal Government ◽  
Government Policy ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Current Level ◽  
Australian Government ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Australian Health ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Level Of Use

Very little is known about the usage of Australian health care services by overseas visitors. This is despite the fact that may visitors are entitled to treatment under Medicare due to the Federal government's policy of encouraging reciprocal health care agreements with a number of countries and the increased promotion of health care as an export commodity. It is therefore difficult to develop an overall picture of both the current level of use of Australian health care services by foreigners or to estimate projections of future demand. The absence of such data also means that it is not possible to be sure of the consequences of policies such as the easing of restrictions on medical visas and the promotion by the Australian government of a network of bilateral reciprocal health care agreements. In this article, federal government policy on the access of non-citizen visitors to Australian health care services is examined, various categories of visitors eligible for treatment under the Medicare scheme identified, and current methods of collecting data on visitors using Australian health services critically examined.

Physician Agency and Adoption of Generic Pharmaceuticals

2012 ◽  
Vol 102 (6) ◽  
pp. 2826-2858 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toshiaki Iizuka
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
State Dependence ◽  
Brand Name ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Patient Costs ◽  
Static Efficiency ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Physician Agency ◽  
Generic Pharmaceuticals

I examine physician agency in health care services in the context of the choice between brand-name and generic pharmaceuticals. I examine micro-panel data from Japan, where physicians can legally make profits by prescribing and dispensing drugs. The results indicate that physicians often fail to internalize patient costs, explaining why cheaper generics are infrequently adopted. Doctors respond to markup differentials between the two versions, indicating another agency problem. However, generics' markup advantages are short-lived, which limits their impact on increasing generic adoption. Additionally, state dependence and heterogeneous doctor preferences affected generics' adoption. Policy makers can target these factors to improve static efficiency. (JEL D82, I11, J44, L65)

scholarly journals Nursing in Australian general practice: directions and perspectives

2005 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth J Halcomb ◽  
Patricia M Davidson ◽  
John P Daly ◽  
Rhonda Griffiths ◽  
Julie Yallop ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Primary Care ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Australian Health ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Nurse Role ◽  
Australian General Practice ◽  
Role Of Nursing

Primary health care services, such as general practices, are the first point of contact for many Australian health care consumers. Until recently, the role of nursing in Australian primary care was poorly defined and described in the literature. Changes in policy and funding have given rise to an expansion of the nursing role in primary care. This paper provides a review of the literature and seeks to identify the barriers and facilitators to implementation of the practice nurse role in Australia and identifies strategic directions for future research and policy development.

scholarly journals Quality and accreditation in health care services

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 539-543
Author(s):  
Christos Iliadis ◽  
Aikaterini Frantzana ◽  
Kiriaki Tachtsoglou ◽  
Maria Lera ◽  
Petros Ouzounakis
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Health Care Quality ◽  
Quality Of Healthcare ◽  
Care Quality ◽  
Healthcare Management ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Care Services

Introduction: The quality of health care services is one of the most frequently mentioned terms and concepts regarding principles of health policy and it is currently high on the agenda of National, European and International policy makers. Purpose: The purpose of this descriptive review is to investigate the correlation between quality in health services and the promotion of health care quality provided by health services. Methodology: The study material consisted of recent articles on the subject mainly found in the Medline electronic database and the Hellenic Academic Libraries Association (HEAL-Link). Results: The clinical quality of services is often difficult to be assessed by "clients" even after the service has been provided. This is due to the fact that customers experience illness, pain, uncertainty, fear and perceived lack of control. Thus, clients may be reluctant to "co-produce" because healthcare is a service they need while they may not want it and because the risk to harm their health is prominent. In the field of healthcare management, patients' perception refers to perceived quality, as opposed to the actual or absolute quality that requires critical management. This is why health care managers face constant pressure to provide qualitative health services. Conclusions: Continuous monitoring of health care services for quality assessment is essential, hence, the evaluation of patients' perceptions of quality of healthcare, has received considerable attention in recent years.

scholarly journals Older Adults’ Expectations and Experiences With Health care Professionals in Ghana

SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 215824402110401
Author(s):  
Paul Alhassan Issahaku ◽  
Alhassan Sulemana
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Health Care Policy ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Care Services ◽  
The North ◽  
Care Health ◽  
Make Health Care

By the year 2050, over 6 million of Ghana’s population will be people aged 60 years and above. Because of increased health challenges that accompany aging, older Ghanaians have health needs to address communicable and chronic non-communicable diseases. This suggests that now into the future, older adults in Ghana will have increased contact with health care professionals. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore older adults’ expectations and experiences with health care professionals to generate information that will shape health care policy and service delivery. Interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 23 persons aged 60 years and above from the North and South of Ghana. The transcribed data were imported to NVivo software to aid with analysis of the data. An inductive approach ta data analysis was used, drawing from thematic analyses procedures. Three key findings emerged from the study. These include (a) noncompassionate care—health professionals were neglectful, inattentive, discriminatory, and stigmatizing toward participants; (b) disrespectful attitude—professionals showed disrespect by shouting or yelling, making participants feel invisible, or not distinguishing participants from younger patients; and (c) a better way to treat us—participants called for compassion, patience, respect, honesty, and priority attention from health care professionals. The study contributes to literature on older adults’ experiences with health care professionals and suggests to health policy makers and health care professionals to consider older adults’ care expectations to make health care services elder-friendly.

scholarly journals The qualitative experience of telehealth access and clinical encounters in Australian health care during COVID-19: Implications for policy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer White ◽  
Julie Byles ◽  
Tom Walley
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
General Practitioners ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
Tertiary Hospital ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Australian Health ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Adaptive Models ◽  
Hunter Region

Abstract BackgroundAdaptive models of health care delivery, such as telehealth consultations, have rapidly been adopted to ensure ongoing delivery of essential health care services during COVID-19. However there remain gaps in our understanding of how clinicians have adapted to telehealth. This study aims to explore the telehealth experiences or specialists, based at tertiary hospital in the Hunter Region, and General Practitioners (GP) including barriers, enables and opportunities. Methods In-depth interviews explored the telehealth experiences of specialists, based at tertiary hospital in the Hunter Region of Australia, and General Practitioners (GP) including barriers, enablers and opportunities. Data were analyzed using an inductive thematic approach with constant comparison.ResultsIndividual interviews were conducted with 10 specialist and 5 GPs. Key themes were identified: (1) Transition to telehealth has been valuable but challenging; (2) Persisting telehealth process barriers need addressing; (3) Establishing when face-to-face consults are essential; (4) Changes in workload pressures and potential for double up; (5) Essential modification of work practices and (6) Exploring what is needed going forwardDiscussionWhile there is a need to rationalise and optimise health access during a pandemic, we suggest that more needs to be done improve telehealth going forward. Our results have important policy implications. Specifically, there is a specific need to effectively train clinicians to competently utilize and be confident using this telehealth and to educate patients on necessary skills and etiquette.

Getting Creative in Health Care

2009 ◽  
Vol 132 (1) ◽  
pp. 78-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet Pagan ◽  
Stuart Cunningham ◽  
Peter Higgs
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Information Management ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Medical Professionals ◽  
Initial Training ◽  
Australian Health ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Complex Information ◽  
Efficiency And Effectiveness

Health care accounts for a substantial and growing share of national expenditures, and Australia's health-care system faces some unprecedented pressures. This paper examines the contribution of creative expertise and services to Australian health care. They are found to be making a range of contributions to the development and delivery of health-care goods and services, the initial training and ongoing professionalism of doctors and nurses, and the effective functioning of health-care buildings. Creative activities within health-care services are also undertaken by medical professionals and patients. Key functions that creative activities address are innovation and service delivery in information management and analysis, and making complex information comprehensible or more useful, assisting communication and reducing psycho-social and distance-mediated barriers, and improving the efficiency and effectiveness of services.

scholarly journals Understanding the Patient Experience: A Conceptual Framework

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 906-910
Author(s):  
Patrick Oben
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Patient Experience ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Health Care Quality ◽  
Human Experience ◽  
Care Quality ◽  
Clear Understanding ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Definition Of

The patient experience is now globally recognized as an independent dimension of health-care quality. However, although patients, providers, health-care managers, and policy-makers agree on its importance, there is no standardized definition of the patient experience. A clear understanding of the basic concepts that make up the foundation of the patient experience is more important than a statement defining the patient experience. The fundamental nature of health care involves people taking care of other people in unique times of distress. Thus, the human experience is at the very core of understanding what the patient experience is. This article reviews a framework of the basic human experience of patients as they progress from being unique, healthy individuals to a state of experiencing both disease and health-care services. This novel framework naturally leads to a basic understanding of the patient experience as a human experience of health-care services.

scholarly journals Slaves to economists? A Canadian's view of the Australian health care system

2005 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 386 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raisa B Deber
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
The Public ◽  
Australian Health ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Intellectual Influence ◽  
Necessary And Sufficient ◽  
Public Private Mix ◽  
Cross National

AN EXPERT IS DEFINED as someone from out of town ? with slides. In health care, such experts also have a tendency to make cross-national comparisons on the basis of a short visit, a few conversations, and a desire to indicate ?lessons learned?.1 In that time-honoured tradition, on the basis of a visit to Melbourne to address the Victorian Healthcare Association, coupled with visits to several local hospitals, this Canadian identified several potential problems arising from Australia?s approach to the public?private mix of hospital services. As Keynes noted, ?The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist.?2 Over the past decades, many health care reformers have urged change ? with varying degrees of success ? based on a set of ideas that markets are always right, that competition is both necessary and sufficient for efficiency, and that private is superior to public. One consequence has been a push for a greater role for private delivery of health care services. This is currently hotly contested in Canada, with Australia providing either an exemplary example or a cautionary tale, depending upon ideological proclivities. I was therefore interested in learning more from Australians as to areas of success or failure of the public?private mix in Australia, and this paper highlights my observations.

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