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June2001 | |
CONTENTS
GPs and Discharge Planning
New Opportunities for
Divisions
The Department of Human Services has just announced funding for a new initiative to increase GP involvement in discharge planning. All Victorian divisions and hospitals have recently received an invitation to submit for demonstration projects to develop a process to facilitate and demonstrate the appropriate use of the EPC Medicare Benefits items to improve linkages between hospitals and GPs in discharge planning and coordination.
This initiative is a result of GPDV's ongoing work with DHS. GPDV originally proposed a project to overcome the difficulties entailed in GP involvement in discharge planning. Negotiations over the past months have resulted in the proposal being accepted, expanded, and announced.
Four projects will ultimately be selected by the Department for funding, with funds coming from both DHS and the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care. Submissions of up to $100,000 will be considered for the 12 month period, and joint division/hospital submissions are required.
GPDV will play a coordinating role for the selected projects, to encourage the sharing of experiences and findings among them. GPDV will also facilitate information sharing with the wider field, through this newsletter as well as through other publications, conferences and forums.
GP Education & Training Regionalisation
Rapid Progress in Metro Melbourne
In metropolitan Melbourne, organisations involved in GP
education and training have agreed that there should be only one
expression of interest (EOI) to form a training consortium
submitted to the new Board of General Practice Education and
Training. The proposal, known as the Metro Alliance, is to
include all interested organisations, and is being written up by
the GP Training Program Regionalisation Project Officer. Under
the proposed system, Melbourne will be divided into sub-regions.
These will be administered by Regional Control Groups, which will
decide on local needs and issues, plan for services, and purchase
educational services from a Joint Centre for Education &
Training. The Joint Centre will be formed by the various service
providers, including the RACGP, the Universities, and VATGP. All
metropolitan divisions have received a copy of the various
editions of the EOI and other background papers.
GPDV will continue to facilitate the process of negotiation, the next stage of which will involve supporting the formation of the Regional Control Groups. An outstanding issue is the level of representation for divisions on the Metro Alliance Board. The board is likely to have representatives from: RACGP, ACRRM, Uni of Melbourne, Monash Uni, VACCHO, GP Supervisors Association, GP Registrars Association and each of the 4 regional groups.
Measuring
GP Integration
Eight Victorian divisions are leading the way in a national pilot
of the GP Integration Index. 27 divisions are involved across
Australia. The DHAC-funded pilot is being conducted by the
Melbourne University Department of General Practice. It aims to
measure the integration of general practice with other elements
of the health system.
For further information phone Maria Potiriadis on 8344 9719 or m.potiriadis@unimelb.edu.au
GP Workforce Consultation
GPDV have engaged The Resolutions Group as consultants to
determine its most appropriate and effective role as the peak
body for Victorian divisions in relation to workforce issues. The
Resolutions Group has already consulted widely, with divisions
and other stakeholders, and are now in the final stages of the
project. As a first step in producing their final report they
have sent out a consultation paper, and are holding two forums to
gather divisions' feedback on it: Dates are:
Saturday June 16, 2001: 10.00 am -
2.00 pm at GPDV
Wednesday June 20, 2001: 12.30 - 4.30 pm at GPDV
Your division has a copy of the consultation paper.
Commonwealth
GPDV distributed information on Federal Budget initiatives
affecting general practice to all divisions immediately following
the budget's release. Divisions will also have received material
from ADGP. A significant feature of the Budget announcements for
divisions is the fact that implementation details for most of
these items are still to be developed. For many of the
initiatives, implementation will occur after further consultation
with the profession has taken place. In practice this means that
it is not clear how much money will actually be allocated to
these programs in their first year. Initiatives include:
Increased Medicare rebates: New money to be
managed by GP MoU group, with a focus on longer consultations;
this is flagged as part of the government response to the RVS.
Mental Health: New MBS item to be developed. GPs
to be enabled to purchase care for mental health patients from
psychologists, possibly though divisions. Divisions to have a
role in education and training; level of training and other
details still to be decided.
Additional Practice Nurses: This initiative
targets areas where patient access to medical services is
limited, such as in rural and remote, provincial and outer
metropolitan areas with doctor shortages. The Department will use
two filters - for socio-economic status and high patient-doctor
ratio - to determine the areas. The initiative also includes
funding for re-entry and upskilling programs for rural nurses.
Funds to divisions in the targeted areas to provide education,
training and professional support services to practice nurses
within their division. Details to be decided.
Diabetes: GP incentives through PIP for early
diagnosis and effective management - detail to be worked out in
consultation with profession. Funding to divisions to work with
GPs and other health professionals.
Asthma: GP incentives through PIP for using Asthma 3+
Plan; infrastructure support for divisions - details to be
determined in consultation with profession.
Cervical screening: Incentives to GPs who screen
high risk women plus a practice incentive for reaching screening
target, through PIP - details to be determined in consultation
with general practice and other stakeholders.
Quality Use of Medicines: Expanded NPS to all
divisions of general practice and QUM services to specialists and
pharmacists will be increased.
After hours/emergency primary care: up to 32 new
after hours primary medicare care sites based on successful
models from current trials, some of which involve divisions;
seeding funding for groups of GPs to examine better ways of
organising and providing services. ADGP is currently negotiating
with Department about the implementation. A Quality Incentives
Program for deputising services to be based on accreditation.
Information Management & Technology: does
not receive funding in its own right in this budget. There is no
direct funding allocation to IM&IT in divisions beyond
December 2001. On the other hand, the General Practice Computing
Group secretariat is likely to be funded at current levels for a
further 3 years, and funding of approximately $3 million per
annum will be made available from Departmental funds for a range
of "Standards and Projects." Strategic direction and
planning for IM&IT will be influenced by the budget
initiatives in areas of chronic disease management (asthma,
diabetes, cervical screening).
The budget does not provide explicit information about total
funds allocated to divisions of general practice.
For more information on each initiative, and on other
initiatives, refer to summaries by ADGP and by GPDV at your
division.
State
The state budget includes a range of capital works and
infrastructure investment for hospitals and aged care residential
care, as well as funding for additional nurses. Some of the
commitments most relevant to general practice include:
Hospital Demand Strategy
GPDV is negotiating with Department of Human Services about general practice roles in implementing this strategy.
Diabetes prevention &
support: $0.6m in 2001-02 (recurrent funding) will go to
programs to increase awareness of risk factors associated with
onset of type 2 diabetes and increase the number of people with
diabetes participating in programs that prevent or delay the
onset of common complications. Some programs will be targeted
towards specific population groups at high risk, including
Aboriginal people.
Immunisation: $0.7m additional recurrent funding
is provided to expand immunisation services. In 2001-02, funds
will be directed towards improving immunisation levels of hard to
reach/at-risk groups including children with disabilities and
recently arrived migrants For more information, see the
Department of Human Services budget information page at: http://www.dhs.vic.gov.au/budget/