Volume 205 - Issue 2
Are general practice characteristics predictors of good glycaemic control in patients with diabetes? A cross-sectional study
Authors: Adrian J Esterman and Robyn McDermott
Med J Aust 2016; 205 (2): 95. || doi: 10.5694/mja16.00532
Published online: 18 July 2016
Published online: 18 July 2016
N/A
In reply:
We thank Ploumidis for his comments on our recent article.1 We agree that restructuring general practitioner payments would be helpful for improving outcomes for people with chronic diseases. For example, payment for the development of care plans is not particularly helpful unless the recommended activities and referrals are actually undertaken. For this reason, the annual cycle of care is a better indicator of improved patient outcome than a completed care plan.
The new Health Care Homes initiative2 follows on from many similar trials, including the original Australian coordinated care trials (1997–1999); the second round of Australian coordinated care trials (2002–2005); and the Diabetes Care Project (2011–2014), on which we based our article. Previous trials have suffered from too short an intervention period and a less than optimal choice of patients.3 We believe that the new Health Care Homes trial is a positive step and we hope that it takes these lessons on board.
Competing interests
No relevant disclosures.
References
- Esterman AJ, Fountaine T, McDermott R. Are general practice characteristics predictors of good glycaemic control in patients with diabetes? A cross-sectional study. Med J Aust 2016; 204: 23.
- Department of Health. Health Care Homes to keep chronically-ill out-of-hospital. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia, 2016. https://www.health.gov.au/internet/ministers/publishing.nsf/Content/health-mediarel-yr2016-ley024.htm (accessed May 2016).
- Esterman AJ, Ben-Tovim DI. The Australian coordinated care trials: success or failure? Med J Aust 2002; 177: 469-470.