A recent study conducted by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) reveals that the use of non-hospital related Medicare based health services such as general practice and allied health are on the rise.
The AIHW study showed that over the course of a 5 year period between 2013 and 2018, 157 million out of the 377 million Medicare based health services rendered were General Practice. That’s 1 in 3 uses of non-hospital Medicare!
In 2017-18 alone the Australian population visited a GP 21.6 million times, diagnostic imaging services 9.4 million times, allied health services 9 million times and a specialist 7.6 million times. The usage of these services varied dramatically between differing geographical locations, reflecting the differing levels of accessibility and cost between rural and metro areas.
After-Hours General Practice Statistics
General Practice as a service was quite well distributed across rural and metro locations, but was found lacking in after-hour care, despite an 8% increase of after-hours GP to patient ratios between 2013 and 2018. In terms of patient access percentages, 2017-2018 saw Primary Health Network (PHN) Metro at 28% and Regional at 16%, where the highest access rate of patients to an after-hours GP was in Western Sydney at 37% and lowest in Western NSW at 10%.
Out-of-pocket General Practice Costs
The AIHW study observed the possible link between lower access and higher out-of-pocket costs. With the country’s average sitting at $38.79 in 2017-18, the states that coughed up the highest out-of-pocket costs are NT at $46.58, ACT at $44.06, and WA at $39.22. In the same breath, these very states saw a lower percentage of patients visiting GPs during the same time period with ACT at 86.2%, Country WA at 83.2% and NT at 77%. This may be a link between supply and demand in those areas. Since these areas do not see a high level of patients coming through to the General Practice, in order to stay above water they must increase the per patient costs. On the flip side it may be a situation where the cost is too high and thus patients are not visiting. There is no clear answer on this from the report.
Strengthened Primary Healthcare
23% of Australian used a GP related primary care service in 2017-18, which has risen steadily over the years across the entire country.
The greatest increase was in the Western Queensland PHN, which increased from 14% in 2013–14 to 24% in 2017–18.
These services include more extensive items, such as mental health and chronic disease.
Overall, a greater percentage (25%) of people living in regional areas received enhanced primary care services than people living in metropolitan areas (21%).
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