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July 2002 |
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CONTENTS
Workshop for GP Representatives
State evaluation: Victorian EPC program
Working with divisions workshop
After Hours Primary Medical Care Grants announced
Staff changes
at GPDV
Changes to our Administration team include farewelling Graham Clark and
welcoming Julie Orr. Graham has departed GPDV to work as a consultant providing
training in Microsoft Applications and Julie will work on the General Practice
Registry and general office administration.
Workshop for GP Representatives
GPDV ran a successful workshop for our GP representatives in June. Twelve GPs
from divisions in Victoria attended, including some with significant experience
in representing divisions, and some who were just beginning a representative
role. The workshop covered: core competencies for representation; a presentation
by Peter Waxman (GP Adviser at DHS) on tips for successful representation; a
self-audit to identify areas in which participants wished to develop further
their skills after the workshop.
GPDV presented the range of resources and information it has available to
support representatives. An exercise by the participants to develop some key
messages to convey about both general practice and divisions when acting as a
representative provided an energetic conclusion to the workshop.
When asked (via evaluation forms) whether they recommend the workshop to other
GP representatives, the response was a definite yes (average 8.7 on a scale of
1-10). All participants said they were interested in undertaking negotiation
skills training as a further step in skill development.
GPDV plans to run the workshop for GP representatives annually.
Further information about GPDV�s representative program is on our website at
www.gpdv.com.au/reps/
Family Doctor Week
14-20 July 2002
See AMA website: www.ama.com.au
State evaluation: Victorian
EPC program
GPDV commissioned The University of Melbourne, Department of General Practice
and Centre for Health Program Evaluation to evaluate the implementation of the
EPC program by divisions and GPDV in Victoria. A national evaluation of the EPC
MBS items is also currently underway. The full report is available on the GPDV
Website.
The key messages that emerged were:
Working with divisions workshop
Everything you ever wanted to know about divisions but didn�t have time to ask!
If you want to improve your agency�s or group�s �integration� or coordination
work with general practice then this is the workshop you need. It has been
specially developed by GPDV and has been a hit with primary care agencies and
PCPs and with DHS central office and regional staff involved in primary care
reform. In three hours, the workshop covers the structure, history and aims of
the ten-year-old Divisions of General Practice Program and what it is funded to
do, as well as how divisions work with GP members to get systems change
implemented. It also explores how divisions and other agencies are working
successfully together to achieve more co-ordinated service delivery. The
workshop is easily tailored to suit any service, agency or group seeking to
strengthen the effectiveness of their linkages with general practice.
If you would like to know more, please contact Sonya Tremellen at GPDV
s.tremellen@gpdv.com.au or
phone: (03) 9341 5205.
Coming Events!
Wednesday 24th July: Chronic Disease Management & IM/IT Workshop (William
Angliss)
Thursday 25th July: IM/IT Network (William Angliss)
Thursday 25th July: Nurses in General Practice Workshop for Divisions
(William Angliss)
Wednesday 31st July: GP Service Coordination Workshop for division and
PCP staff (Rydges Carlton)
For further information about GPDV events, go to
www.gpdv.com.au and click on �Details
of Events�.
GPs for Outer Metro
The June meeting of the Victorian Advisory Committee on General Practice (VACGP)
was told that details of the Program announced in the 2002 Commonwealth Budget
to provide 150 additional GPs for the outer areas of capital cities are still
being planned. Information to date is that the Program will provide these extra
doctors from
GP registrars from the urban stream of vocational training who from January 2003
will all be required to spend 6 months of their training in a practice in the
outer metro area. Funds will be available to enable practices in the outer metro
to become accredited as training practices.
Trainee specialists in metro hospitals, who will be offered the opportunity to
work up to two sessions per week in accredited outer metro practices. Specialist
trainees are being consulted to see if they are interested.
Other Medical Practitioners (OMPs) who undertake a pathway to vocational
registration and so become eligible for the higher Medicare rebate. They will be
eligible to work in outer metro practices under the Program only if they have
worked for a minimum of three years in other metropolitan areas that are not
eligible for the Program.
An announcement about the Program, which will operate from January 2003, with a
major communication to outer metro practices and eligible doctors, is expected
in October.
After Hours
Primary Medical Care Grants announced
Victorian projects funded in the latest round are:
IMIT Grants
Beechworth Surgery
Develop a central patient record for patients of Beechworth Health Service and
Chiltern and District Bush Nursing Hospital. Installation and trial of a video
system at the Hospital to allow doctors to view patients from a remote site.
Central Bayside Division
Install a remote managed server in the division and telephone links between the
division and participating practices. GPs on call will access patient records
via remote dial in.
Central Highlands Division
Incorporate GP IT with PCP�s Connecting Care Database
Improve patient access to non-GP after-hours care by improving GP referral to
after-hours services
Goulburn Valley Division
Development of software for notification of GPs of after hours attendances
Latrobe Community Health Service
(with Moe After Hours Medical Service, Central West Gippsland Division of GP and
the Centre for Rural Heath.)
Establishment of a secure client interface between the CHS system (SWITCH) and
Medical Director. Develop secure on-line feedback to the client�s usual GP.
Seeding Grants
Ballarat Division
Investigate viable options of GP based after hours services
Northern Division
Investigate the best model of after hours care from a hospital-based setting
incorporating existing services and ensuring follow up with GP.
For more information contact Nicole Petterson on (03) 9341 5224 or at
n.petterson@gpdv.com.au or contact
the division.
Public Key
Infrastructure (PKI) and Divisions
Divisions, via their contracts with DoHA for chronic disease management
programs, are being asked to play a role in the implementation of public key
infrastructure (PKI) as a system for secure electronic communication between
health providers and the HIC.
PKI is an exciting technology, raising the possibility for private and secure
electronic communication between doctors and other health agencies. For example,
PKI could be used for:
communication between GPs and specialists or hospitals regarding referred
patients,
receiving pathology results which could be automatically included into medical
software,
sending information about patients to registers such as the Australian Childhood
Immunisation Register and the Australian Organ Donor Register, and
requesting authority for PBS authority prescription items.
PKI uptake has so far been low in Australian general practice, with the
exception of some regions where practices have been involved in electronic
messaging projects. There are multiple reasons for the slow uptake: technical,
business and legal.
In response to division concerns about contracts with the Health eSignature
Authority (HeSA) to obtain PKI certificates, HeSA is currently reviewing all its
documentation and will address specific concerns raised about the complexity and
length of current contracts and policy documents. Also, in response to concerns
about liability, HeSA agreed to initiate a liability risk assessment from
GP/Divisional perspectives.
GPDV�s Response
GPDV and other SBOs have raised the legal issues with ADGP for further advice.
GPDV has recommended that Victorian divisions be aware of the current
difficulties associated with PKI and that they should in turn advise GPs to
carefully consider the implications of the certificate contract with HeSA before
signing it.
PKI Support Workshops
HeSA is planning workshops to support personnel who will take responsibility for
facilitating the rollout of PKI, equipping them with practical knowledge and
support resources to make the process easier. Workshops are expected to take
place in August. For further information please contact Chris Miller at
c.miller@gpdv.com.au or on (03)
9341 5217
ADGP Familiarisation
Training in Mental Health
On 12 June, ADGP convened the Victorian Familiarisation Training
Train-the-Trainer workshop with support from GPDV. More than 85 people attended
this highly successful event including 29 GPs, Practice Managers and division
staff.
The Familiarisation Training aimed to equip all divisions with an overview of
the key components of the Better Outcomes in Mental Health initiative,
including the training requirements, CPD points allocation and processes for
documentation for the 3+ mental health assessment. The Familiarisation Training
is the first requirement for GPs interested in registering for the Incentive
Payment of $150 per patient per year for each completed 3+ assessment. The GPs,
practice managers and division staff who attended the ADGP workshop will be
offering division-based 2 hour Familiarisation Training to interested GPs over
the next few months.
For more information contact your division.