Reform Announcements & PHC in Aged Care
There were some significant reform announcements made by the PM earlier this week in relation to primary health care and aged care. I thought I would pass on the document that outlines these more fully and includes further details of proposed changes that will impact the way in which primary health care services are provided in RACF and to elderly Australians in the community (see in particular p.77). (click here to download document)Amongst a raft of other reforms the Commonwealth is proposing to invest $96 million over the next four years to increase financial incentives to GPs to provide more services in aged care homes and to provide flexible funding to target gaps in primary health care for older Australians. This would include the following changes to the GP component of the ACAI (I have only done a quick skim of the aged care section but doesn’t seem to be any proposed alterations flagged to the allied health component in the next 2 years):
an increase in the payment to GPs who provide at least 60 attendances to residents in RACFs from $1,000 to $1,500 a year
an increase in the payment to GPs who provide at least 140 attendances to residents of RACFs from $1,500 to $3,500 a year
From 2012 13, the Commonwealth is proposing to fund PHCOs to target gaps in primary health care services for aged care recipients.