The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) has welcomed the Federal Government’s progress in rolling out the first stage of the Health Care Homes pilot, with the announcement today of ten Primary Health Network (PHN) sites across Australia to take part in the trial.
The RACGP says commitment to the medical home model is a step in the right direction for the health of all Australians, however there remain particular concerns around the actual funding allocated to the Health Care Homes pilot.
Commenting on the announcement today, Dr Frank R Jones, President of the RACGP said that the announced $120 million in funding was not new money, and is actually being re-directed from other Medicare GP payments.
“The Prime Minister has today announced that nearly $120 million is being invested in the first stage of the Health Care Homes pilot. This is in reality $21 million from the Practice Incentive Program re-directed to infrastructure, training and evaluation, and $90 million of funding for some MBS chronic disease management items being cashed out of Medicare.
“This reallocation of funds does not represent genuine investment in the Health Care Home, and is instead a shuffling of existing expenditure,” said Dr Jones.
“In reality, the practices involved in the trial across Australia will be expected to provide more services, with the same amount of funding. In order to succeed, the trial must be properly resourced to support GPs and their teams to take on even more responsibility and to keep people out of hospital,” Dr Jones said.
According to the RACGP’s calculations, an appropriately funded trial will require $100,000 on average per practice per annum – in addition to current funding for chronic disease management items and other MBS items.
The RACGP has further recommended the Federal Government to extend the two year trial to five years, to allow proper implementation and evaluation.
“The overseas experience shows that outcomes from the medical home model improve over time. Extending the pilot to five years is crucial to fully test the model(s) in Australia and to understand what will and will not work for patients and the health system,” Dr Jones said.
The RACGP has developed the first set of Standards for the Medical Home, to align with the RACGP Vision for general practice and a sustainable healthcare system. The Standards will be released at GP16, the RACGP conference for general practice in Perth, 29 September – 1 October 2016.