Australian Medical Association

The AMA today released a comprehensive plan to provide better care for patients with complex and chronic health care needs.

AMA Vice President, Dr Steve Hambleton, said that the AMA plan is a clinician-informed response to the Government’s recently announced proposals for caring for people with diabetes.

Dr Hambleton said the AMA supports the Government’s intent to improve access to GP-guided care for these patients but does not agree with its policy prescription.

“The Government’s proposals are flawed because they focus on a single disease, cap the funding available for patient care, and potentially undermine the important relationship between GPs and their patients,” Dr Hambleton said.

The AMA recognises the need for more efficient arrangements to support the provision of well-coordinated multidisciplinary care to patients with chronic and complex disease. If access to coordinated multidisciplinary care is improved then patients will benefit, the number of avoidable hospital admissions can be reduced, and long-term savings to the health system will be generated.

In considering this issue, it is important to recognise that current MBS arrangements are meeting the needs of most patients. The Government’s own draft Primary Care Strategy said in this regard that supported by the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS), most Australians have good access to affordable services provided through general practice, have a choice of provider, and have been supported in their access to many specialist and diagnostic services.

The AMA supports a comprehensive approach to the management of chronic and complex disease based on arrangements that:

• Provide GP-coordinated access for patients to services based on clinical need;
• Provide a patient’s usual GP with the support they need to improve the care they can provide/organise for patients with chronic and complex disease;
• Support GPs to facilitate access for their patients to other members of a multi-disciplinary primary care team;
• Continue to ensure that funding follows the patient;
• Lead to better collaboration with existing service providers; and
• Simplify and enhance the existing MBS chronic disease arrangements.