Connect
MJA
MJA

Restructuring primary health care in Australia

John M Dwyer and Stephen J Duckett
Med J Aust 2016; 205 (10): . || doi: 10.5694/mja16.00554
Published online: 21 November 2016

When appropriately resourced, medical homes can deliver the system-wide benefits of truly integrated primary care

For patients with chronic and complex conditions, optimal care involves a range of clinical skills other than those provided by doctors (eg, a social worker, a clinical nurse specialist or a home care team), some of which are generally not available through Medicare. Patients experience fracturing of their care — such as the need to obtain referrals to consult other health practitioners — and significant out-of-pocket expenses, on which Australians spent around $27.5 billion dollars in 2013–14.1


  • 1 University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW
  • 2 Grattan Institute, Melbourne, VIC


Correspondence: j.dwyer@unsw.edu.au

Competing interests:

No relevant disclosures.

Author

remove_circle_outline Delete Author
add_circle_outline Add Author

Comment
Do you have any competing interests to declare? *

I/we agree to assign copyright to the Medical Journal of Australia and agree to the Conditions of publication *
I/we agree to the Terms of use of the Medical Journal of Australia *
Email me when people comment on this article

Online responses are no longer available. Please refer to our instructions for authors page for more information.