Australian Medical Association

The AMA submission to the Department of Health and Ageing on the draft Performance and Accountability Framework which will be used by the National Health Performance Authority urges the Government to undertake a proper consultation process on the performance indicators proposed in the Framework beyond the State and Territory governments.

MJA release - Clinical quality improvement (QI) programs are siphoning badly needed health resources away from clinical care, according to an opinion piece in the latest Medical Journal of Australia.

Dr Alasdair Millar, the clinical director at New Zealand’s Southland Hospital, said that while the aims of QI – to ensure patient safety, avoid errors and achieve optimum health outcomes – were good, there was little evidence of clinical benefit.

Pathology services in Australia are amongst the highest quality and the most accessible in the world. However, Government funding cuts to pathology services have had an impact on the quality, accessibility, affordability and safety of pathology services. Government funding changes can also have a significant impact on the sustainability of the pathology sector including the ability to support ongoing training, research and development.

The AMA is supportive of evidence-based guidelines for the prevention and control of infection that are appropriate for the level of risk applicable to the various healthcare settings.

A national approach must be sufficiently flexible to accommodate the relative risks. The AMA is not in support of an approach where healthcare providers are required to implement infection control guidelines that are beyond the level of risk that occurs in a particular healthcare setting, are not practical to implement, and/or for which there is no evidence to justify adherence to the guideline.

The AMA Position Statement on Electronic Prescription Transfer Systems – 2009 supports the development of an electronic prescription transfer system as a fundamental building block for a broader eHealth system in Australia. It sets out the high level principles that should underpin an electronic prescription transfer system.

The development of an e system in Australia is supported by:

1. the National eHealth Strategy
2. the KPMG Consultancy in Electronic Prescribing and Dispensing Final Report (commissioned by the Department of Health and Ageing);
3. the National Health and Hospital Reform Commission (NHHRC) Interim Report, including the supplementary paper on person-controlled electronic health records; and
4. commercial vendors actively promoting their prescribing systems.

The AMA position on other aspects of eHealth are set out in the following position statements:

AMA Position Statement – Unique Healthcare Identifiers – 2008
AMA Position Statement – Connectivity – 2007
AMA Position Statement – Safety and Quality of E-Health Systems – 2006

In this paper the AMA comments on the recent Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC) paper titled Review of National Safety and Quality Accreditation Standards. The paper considers the concept of national safety and quality accreditation standards within the context of the broader, changing and evolving health care system. In preparing its comments the AMA reviewed the ACSQHC Work Plan for the period 2006/2007-2010/2011 as endorsed by Federal and State health ministers.

AMA Position Statement: Quality and Safety in Public Hospitals - 2006

AMA Position Statement: Safety and Quality of E-Health Systems - 2006