Media release

The ‘Medical Home’ is the family GP

AMA Position Statement on the Medical Home 2015

The AMA today released its new Position Statement on the Medical Home 2015.

The AMA has produced the Position Statement to contribute to the current health policy discussion over the future directions of general practice and primary care in Australia.

AMA Vice President, Dr Stephen Parnis, said the Position Statement outlines key principles and requirements for the Medical Home if it is to lead to improved patient care in the Australian context.

“The concept of the Medical Home already exists in Australia, to some extent, in the form of a patient’s ‘usual GP’.

“The cornerstone of the usual GP arrangement is an established and trusted relationship between doctor and patient.

“Ninety-three per cent of Australians have a usual general practice, and 66 per cent have a usual GP.

“Evidence suggests that patients with a usual GP or Medical Home have better health outcomes.

“If there is to be a formalised Medical Home concept in Australia, it must be general practice. GPs are the only primary health practitioners with the skills and training to provide holistic care for patients.”

Dr Parnis said the Government’s current review into primary health care, which is investigating options to better support patients with complex and chronic illness, is exploring models of primary health care funding and delivery, including the Medical Home concept.

“With the growing incidence of chronic disease and an ageing population, the AMA recognises that the Medical Home concept of primary care has the potential to better support GPs in providing well-coordinated and integrated multi-disciplinary care for patients with chronic and complex disease,” Dr Parnis said.

“This where the Government must focus its Medical Home thinking.

“It must support patients with complex and chronic disease through additional funding to support GPs to deliver comprehensive and longitudinal care, including non-face-to-face activity, patient education, better coordination, and better targeting.

“It is likely that the introduction of the Medical Home in Australia would involve the establishment of a formal structure, such as patient registration, which would link the patient to a nominated GP or practice. Any registration must be voluntary for the patient and the doctor.

“In implementing any Medical Home model, the AMA believes that fee-for-service must remain the predominant funding mechanism, with patients retaining access to their Medicare rebate.

“However, the AMA acknowledges that the Medical Home concept has the potential to provide a platform for blended funding models that reward quality general practice.

“General practice is already delivering very good health care outcomes for patients, with GPs working closely with other specialists and other health care providers.

“But you can’t just transplant models of health care from other countries without acknowledgement of local conditions and what is already working well.

“Australia needs to build on what works, and ensure that a local version of the Medical Home is well-designed and relevant to the Australian context.

“Otherwise, it will fail.”

If a formal Medical Home model is to be introduced in Australia:

  • it must be appropriately funded, including to support administration, additional care coordination, and non-face-to-face work;
  • funding should complement existing fee-for-service arrangements, paid on a longitudinal basis;
  • it must utilise the patient’s usual general practice/GP as the Medical Home;
  • it must be voluntary, allowing patients or GPs to opt out or reverse their decision;
  • it must impose minimal administrative burdens on practices; and
  • it must be based on a GP led team.

The AMA Position Statement on the Medical Home is at https://ama.com.au/position-statement/ama-position-statement-medical-home.

 


11 December 2015

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