Publications

OATSIHs Head Agreement and Funding Agreement

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health
• Health care systems

This report summarises the success of the ATAPS program to date, presents the outcomes of the review process and identifies key directions to refine and further improve the initiative.

• Mental health

This paper explores the patient casemix of a number of known trends. That is, it uses the Australian Refined Diagnosis Related Groups (AR-DRG) v4 classification to investigate trends in the utilisation of admitted patient services; the average length of stay (ALOS); the public/private balance (both in terms of patients and hospitals); and, finally, the use of hospitals by older people.

• Hospitals

This publication is a support and resource document for the "National Action Plan for Promotion, Prevention and Early Intervention for Mental Health 2000". It includes indicators, measurement tools and databases relevant to assessing the implementation of the outcomes and strategies identified in the action plan.

• Mental health

The Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia, sponsored by the Department of Health and Aged Care, uses accessibility by road to services to develop a standard classification and index of remoteness.This revised edition was released in October 2001.

• Rural health services

This paper evolved from a collaborative data-linking project between the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care and the Health Department of Western Australia. The aim of the project was to create a linked resource from three administrative data sets which record services provided to state hospital inpatients as well as under the Medical and Pharmaceutical Benefits Schemes (MBS and PBS). A series of analyses was then undertaken based on the linked data set examining a number of health conditions for various geographically defined population groups.

In considering the Australian medical workforce this paper describes its context, characteristics and significant trends. It reviews its geographic and structural distribution problems, analyses government workforce policy and planning, and outlines recent initiatives by the Commonwealth to influence workforce outcomes. For comparative purposes, the paper describes the workforce characteristics and policies of four broadly similar countries, and the final chapter highlights key issues and questions for future workforce planning.

• Health personnel

The paper seeks to establish firstly, that any comprehensive perspective on health care financing has to include consideration of the role of population health services and programs, and secondly that consideration of population health financing has to be in the context of financing for the health system as a whole.

This is the fifth volume in the series and examines the role of technology in health care in Australia. This paper does not attempt to provide a comprehensive coverage of all issues relevant to health technology. Instead, it attempts to examine some of the more significant issues in order to introduce the reader to the complexities of the area. It presents, where available, illustrative empirical information, examples and commentary from key researchers, and provides leads into the literature for further reading.

This is the sixth volume in the series and considers issues associated with the quality of Australian health care services. The paper canvasses some of the issues faced by government in intervening to best support high quality health care. A number of current Commonwealth government interventions are described across a range of regulatory, financing and research and development approaches. The range of national machinery to promote the quality of health care is also described.

This project, initiated in 1996, is a first step towards transforming isolated health data sets (such as the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) data, Pharmaceutical Benefits Schedule (PBS) data and hospital morbidity data (HMD)) into information that may be used to inform policy.

• Health care systems

This paper uses national hospital morbidity data and the Australian Refined Diagnosis Related Groups (AR-DRG) classification to identify the casemix of different age groups. Major Diagnostic Categories (MDCs), Diagnosis Related Groups (DRGs), adjacent DRGs, DRG types and clinical profiles are all taken into account. Public and private hospitals are covered, but only acute episodes are considered in scope.

• Casemix

The profile of the Australian population is ageing. Can Australia provide adequate living standards for the growing number of persons in the aged and other dependent groups without seriously undermining the living standards of the general community?

This study projects future health costs attributable to the progressive ageing of the Australian population based on extensive administrative data on medical practitioner visits (to GPs and specialists), prescription drug consumption and hospital admissions. Scenarios based on these cost data were applied to projections of the Australian population by age and sex out to 2051 — by which time the transient effects of the 'baby-boom' cohort will have worked their way through the system.

• Health care systems

This paper explores the impact of public and private sector participation in the funding and delivery of health services and market based approaches, including competition, on the overall objectives of the health care system: good health, low cost, equity and satisfaction.

This paper provides an overview of health systems in 10 countries, demonstrating the range of present funding arrangements. It compares expenditures and some selected outcome measures and describes the major reforms that have been attempted.

Based on Western Australian hospital data covering admissions and discharges during 1994-95 and 1995-96, this study focuses on the experiences of older Australians who were admitted to hospital: how they came to be admitted and why; and where they went afterwards (including the proportion who went into a nursing home). This is only a partial picture of older Australians' use of health services because it is restricted to hospital admissions and discharges.

• Hospitals

This paper examines the nature of poverty and its relationship with health, including an exploration of the broad range of socio-economic factors associated with poor health and the identification of groups within the community facing particular disadvantage and vulnerability. The paper will then examine the current range of health strategies designed to counter the influence of these factors and highlight areas for futher research or policy development.

• Health care systems

The Department of Health and Aged Care submission to the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee provides a comprehensive account of the potential impact of the Federal Government 30 per cent rebate on private health insurance on the private health insurance industry.

• Private Health Insurance

The purpose of this paper is to provide a new perspective on the use of hospital services by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It is also intended to encourage greater use of casemix-based information for both research and policy purposes.

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health

This second publication in the Occasional Papers New Series, Gambling: Is it a health hazard? was prepared as the Department’s Submission to the Productivity Commission’s Inquiry into Australia’s Gambling Industries.

This first paper in the series Occasional Papers: New Series, deals with Australian government involvement in health care; population health, particular challenges for the Australian health system and changing priorities.

• Health care systems

Australia is now much better placed to describe patterns of health and health inequity than it was even five years ago. This capacity needs to be further developed especially in moving away from more traditional health indicators such as mortality, morbidity and risk factors to other dimensions of health such as community capacity, and locational disadvantage. There also needs to be more emphasis on developing process or intermediate indicators for strategies such as intersectoral action and healthy public policy goals such as improved food supply.

• Health care systems

Australia is now much better placed to describe patterns of health and health inequity than it was even five years ago. This capacity needs to be further developed especially in moving away from more traditional health indicators such as mortality, morbidity and risk factors to other dimensions of health such as community capacity, and locational disadvantage. There also needs to be more emphasis on developing process or intermediate indicators for strategies such as intersectoral action and healthy public policy goals such as improved food supply.

• Health care systems

The following papers by five prominent Australian researchers were presented at a workshop in Canberra in July 1998. The purpose of the workshop was to establish the current state of knowledge in relation to the hypothesis of ‘compression of morbidity’. The papers examine the issue from a range of viewpoints.

This policy recognises that to further diminish ill health and injury among 0-5 year olds, it is necessary to address the wider determinants of health – the psycho-social, physical and economic environments in which they live – and that this requires active coordination between the health and broader family services sectors.

Competitive tendering will continue to be introduced where it can deliver benefits. Even so, for the department, continued benefits are more likely to come from better management approaches under current funding arrangements, with the aim of improving the cost effectiveness and customer focus of services, and ensuring more rigorous monitoring and evaluation.

This page contains: First series 1997 - 1998 , New series 1999 - 2003, Health financing series 1999 - 2001.

• Ageing
• Health care systems

The first publication in the Occasional Papers Series, National leadership through performance assessment, takes a critical look at departmental frameworks for performance information and monitoring. It comprises two papers with a common theme and complementary purposes