1997-1998
Australia's Commonwealth Department of Health and Family Services, Budget Document 1997-98
The Federal Government has strengthened its commitment to the health needs of Australians in rural and remote areas by introducing new measures in the 1997-98 Budget to build on the rural health initiatives announced in last year's Budget.
Fact Sheet 1
Commonwealth strengthens commitment to rural and remote health
The Federal Government has strengthened its commitment to the health needs of Australians in rural and remote areas by introducing new measures in the 1997-98 Budget to build on the rural health initiatives announced in last year's Budget.The measures include:
- additional funding of $17.4 million over four years to target major rural and remote health priority areas:
- enabling a greater capacity to respond to rural and remote health needs and to develop innovative models of health care delivery to remote communities by responding to particular needs;
- specialist medical training in rural areas will be extended in cooperation with the States and Territories and the specialist medical colleges;
- the creation of a rural and remote health support program which will provide greater flexibility in addressing changing priorities:
- the program, which will bring together a number of existing programs, includes funding for the Royal Flying Doctor Service, the Rural Health Support, Education and Training (RHSET) Program, training and support arrangements for nurses, and locum relief arrangements for specialists;
- a pilot study will be allocated $5 million to develop obstetric services in rural areas which will address the problems doctors face in providing obstetric care, such as difficult practice conditions, limited availability of professional indemnity cover and a lack of peer support:
- short term pilot projects will be conducted to test alternative ways of planning and funding obstetric services in rural areas;
- funding will be provided by savings from Medicare Benefits which will not be available for obstetric services provided in those identified areas for the period of the study.
1997-98 $m | 1998-99 $m | 1999-2000 $m | 2000-2001 $m |
2.0 | 3.6 | 5.5 | 6.3 |
Introduction of electronic commerce lodgment for Medicare claim processing
People in rural and remote areas will have improved access to Medicare services with the introduction of electronic lodgment of Medicare claims directly from doctors' surgeries. This will substantially improve access to Medicare services, especially for many people in rural and remote areas.
Doctors will be able to electronically lodge claims for all Medicare services instead of only for bulk billed claims. Electronically lodged claims generally will be processed more quickly than paper based claims, as lodging claims at the point of service will reduce payment delays.
Existing payment arrangements, including bulk billing, will still apply.
Immunisation
A major package has been put together to try to increase the immunisation rate in Australia to an acceptable level. The two most significant elements are linking immunisation with entitlements to Maternity Allowance, Childcare Assistance and the Childcare Cash Rebate, and providing incentives to GPs for increasing immunisation coverage.
Childcare support for regional Australia
The 1997-98 Budget introduces a new planning system for the childcare industry to ensure services are established in areas of most need. Funding has been provided to enable community centres and more Outside School Hours Care services to target family needs which are not being met by private operators.
Family Day Care will also be expanded to target rural needs with an additional 2,500 places during the period 1997-98 to 2000-2001.
School age care reforms will improve affordability for low and middle income families while retaining benefits for children already in the system.
A 20-hour limit on access to Childcare Assistance for non-work related care will be introduced to try to ensure the program's primary objective of providing work related care is achieved. There will be exemptions to support the higher care needs of children at risk and families in crisis.
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Food hygiene standard
The Australia New Zealand Food Authority will develop a nationally consistent set of regulations for food hygiene, which will place more responsibility on the food industry to ensure safe food handling practices and help minimise cases of food-borne illnesses.
The Budget has allocated $3.8 million over three years for the new system. It is estimated there are more than two million cases of food poisoning each year at a cost of between $1 billion and $2 billion.
The Government has also committed $0.3 million to review current food regulation to encourage the growth and export development of the Australian food industry.
Funding is also being made available as part of a package of more than $5 million over four years to review the Food Standards Code to encourage the food industry to introduce more innovative and efficient production techniques.
Emergency relief
The Government has reviewed funding for the Emergency Relief Program and has allocated just over an additional $15 million over the next four years, after it was found a large number of recipients are from categories other than the unemployed. Until now, the unemployment beneficiary numbers were used as the guide for funding.
New arrangements will result in funding for the program being linked to the Consumer Price Index, which will provide service agencies with more predictable funding levels and allow better planning to meet the demand for emergency relief.
Aged and Community Care
The aged care reforms announced in the last Budget will come into effect on 1 July 1997 and will have particular benefits for older Australians living in rural and remote areas, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Nursing homes and hostels will be combined into a single residential care system, which will enable rural aged care facilities to have greater flexibility to meet people's care needs as they become more dependent over time.
Older Australians in rural and remote areas will find it easier to stay in communities where they have been living and fewer of them will have to face the disruption of moving, often to another town, as their need for care increases.
A capital program worth up to $10 million a year will address the needs of services catering for high numbers of financially disadvantaged people. This will be particularly valuable for rural and remote communities where building costs are high, and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
Residential care services in regional Australia will also benefit from the higher rates of ongoing funding which will be provided to ensure access for those who are not able to pay accommodation bonds -- for example, because their main asset is a farm which is supporting other family members.
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Support for dementia sufferers and their carers
The 1997-98 Budget has allocated more than $1 million a year to be provided to Aged Care Assessment teams to allow them to maintain the psychogeriatric expertise needed for the early and accurate recognition of dementia. This funding will predominantly be given to teams in country areas.
The Carers' Package also includes more than $1.3 million a year to major organisations to enable them to continue to provide education and support to carers of people with dementia.
Existing programs
There will be continued support for existing programs designed to improve the recruitment and retention rates of health care professionals in rural and remote Australia, and increase the access to quality health services. These programs include:
- moving to the next phase of setting up other university departments of rural health and maintaining support for those already established at Broken Hill and Mount Isa ($6 million);
- the General Practice Rural Incentives Program (RIP), which provides around $15 million a year for support for doctors moving to or working in rural areas;
- the John Flynn Scholarships which were launched in April 1997 and will enable medical students to spend time training in a rural area;
- Health Jobs Australia, a pilot project which is a medical and other health care professional vacancy information data system, with the capacity to contain an up-to-date listing of all vacancies across Australia;
- training and support initiatives to enhance the skills of nurses who practise in remote or isolated areas where there are no medical practitioners;
- the Rural Health Support, Education and Training Program which aims to improve recruitment and retention rates of rural and remote health care professionals and encourage city-based professionals to practise their skills in rural or remote settings; and
- financial support of about $16 million for the Royal Flying Doctor Service which provides a range of health care services, including emergency retrieval and remote clinics to those communities which do not have access to the normal medical facilities.
Rural health: John Loy, First Assistant Secretary, Health Services Development Division. Phone: (06) 289 8083
Medicare: Gail Batman, A/g First Assistant Secretary, Health Benefits Division. Phone: (06) 289 8227
Childcare: Margaret Carmody, Assistant Secretary, Policy Analysis and Planning Branch, Family and Children's Services Division. Phone: (06) 289 3744
Food hygiene: Winsome McCaughey, Chairperson, ANZFA. Phone: (06) 271 2200
Emergency relief: Barry Wight, First Assistant Secretary, Family and Children's Services Division. Phone: (06) 289 3700
Aged Care/carers: Warwick Bruen, Assistant Secretary, Aged and Community Care Division. Phone: (06) 289 5182
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