The future of primary healthcare in Australia
September 8, 2014
YOU can’t pick up a newspaper,
turn on a radio or watch the TV
without some level of discussion
on primary healthcare in
Australia. GP shortages, rising
costs, PBS reforms and Medicare
overhauls are all part of today’s
landscape.
So where does that leave
Australia?
I believe there are two key areas
that need to be addressed as a
matter of urgency.
Pharmacists are highly trained
and experienced primary
healthcare providers located
conveniently throughout regional
and metro Australia and have
a massive capacity to provide
additional health services.
By encouraging expansion of
the services offered by pharmacy,
it will free up the time of the
over-stretched GPs and allow
them to complete higher level
consultations.
We also need to continue to
drive innovation whilst fine
tuning the quality and availability
of all healthcare solutions.
The current tax incentives
may not go far enough and
the lines of communication
between organisations such as
Medicare, private health insurers,
pharmacists, GPs and the like are
blurred.
We must adopt a more
divergent approach to the cost
and provision of this essential
health resource and start to think
further outside the box.
This week’s
contributor is
Paul Rowe,
Managing
Director - The
Business Squad
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