Aboriginal Health Workshops
Primary Care Integration Program (a component of the Australian Better Health Initiative)
Overview
The Australian Better Health Initiative (ABHI) is a package of programs aimed at promoting good health and reducing the burden of chronic disease for all Australians. As a COAG 2006-2010 initiative, the Australian Government has committed $250m, with States and Territories matching this.
One of five elements in the ABHI initiative is the Primary Care Integration Program (PCIP). The Commonwealth Department of Health and Aging (DOHA) has approved 15 submissions for around $6 million in funding for the Primary Care Integration Program in Victoria. These 15 submissions include all 29 Victorian general practice divisions.
The primary care integration focus brings together various aspects of the healthcare system so that hospitals, ambulatory care, primary health care and care in the community have clear funding, role delineation, paths of engagement and transition and are able to continually improve their use of both the workforce and technology.
Essentially, these goals define the ABHI: PCIP action areas as being about:
- Relationships between service providers
- Arrangements for co-ordinating clinical activities
- Use of systems to support co-ordination
Key Objectives
General Practice Victoria is supporting divisions to meet the following objectives:
- to engage with the work of local PCPs, and other state funded primary care initiatives
- to communicate and link better with the range of primary care providers
- to facilitate general practice use of existing primary and community care services including Commonwealth, state and non-government organisation funded services with a focus on patients with chronic disease
- to facilitate general practice utilisation of tools/strategies that will assist in better managing patients with chronic disease (e.g. disease registers, referral, recall and reminder systems, care planning)
- to contribute to work around developing local chronic disease care pathways (generic or specific) or other priority activities with a chronic disease management focus.
Reporting Requirements
The Department of Health and Ageing have asked divisions to report on the ABHI:PCIP against three specific performance indicators:
- Collaboration between Primary and community care services
- The use of electronic systems or communications applications to support integrated primary care
- Uptake of MBS items that support integrated primary care service delivery for patients with chronic disease including those with complex needs.
These performance indicators have introduced a new range of definitions to divisions. This fact sheet supplements the glossary of terms supplied with the ABHI:PCIP minimum reporting requirement.
For further information contact:
Merrian Oliver-Weymouth, Primary Care Integration Program Ph: 03 9314 5260 | Fax: 03 9341 5299 | Mob: 0407 302 913 | Email: m.oliver-weymouth@gpv.org.au