Industry & Reform
Industry & Reform
The AMA would like to see a private health regulator to improve post-treatment care for private health patients . Picture : NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman .
‘ A dog ’ s breakfast ’
AMA report calls for private health regulator to boost at-home recovery
By Erin Morley
The Australian Medical Association ( AMA ) president Professor Stephen Robson has called for a private health authority to regulate out-of-hospital care , a practice he said could save the sector millions .
The AMA ‘ Out-of-hospital models of care in the private health system ’ report , released on October 5 , found the public sector is significantly better at delivering ‘ innovative ’ care at home , while private hospitals are lagging behind .
Professor Robson said this is an issue of concern as two-thirds of the two million planned operations in Australia every year are conducted by private hospitals .
“ At the moment , it is a mishmash of different systems that is poorly regulated ,” he said .
“ It ’ s absolutely critical that we put patient safety at the forefront of out-of-hospital care , and the only way that you can do that safely is to have an independent , arms-length , private health
12 | nursingreview . com . au authority to oversee the implementation of these systems .”
Out-of-hospital care can free-up hospital beds by moving patients to their homes to recover from treatment , saving the industry a predicted tens of millions of dollars per year .
The AMA calculated that if out-of-hospital care was extended to all eligible private health patients having knee replacement surgery in 2024 , it would save hospitals between 47,000 and 94,000 bed days , and between $ 31.3 million to $ 62.7 million .
“ It is really a dog ’ s breakfast at the moment , with two patients having the same operation , the same surgeon , in the same hospital , [ and ] depending on their private health insurer , one being able to have safe out-of-hospital care , and the other not having access to this ,” Professor Robson explained .
“ It ’ s not equitable for patients , and it removes a lot of the incentive to actually have private health insurance .”
The AMA stressed the public system is better at delivering at-home care because of its blanket governance , which the private system does not have .
The report states ‘ It is clear that a lack of leadership and coordination of reform
“ It is clear that a lack of leadership and coordination of reform in the private health system is holding back this reform
in the private health system is holding back this reform .’
This reform was a key topic discussed among stakeholders , such as private health insurers , physiotherapists and rehabilitation specialists , at an AMA meeting on October 20 , where there was general agreement that the out-hospital-care models need to be reformed .
Although there were differing views on what the reform should be and on how to achieve it , Professor Robson said that it was encouraging that everyone was willing to talk about the range of possibilities .
“ Any discussion about reform needs to consider the views of all stakeholders in the system , and today we had some great debate on the issues in the system and possible solutions to those ,” he said . ■