Health Policy In Australia

This text provides details of the Australian health system and of the main political influences and the theoretical and conceptual underpinning for decisions and trends in health and health care.

A updated overview of Australia’s health care system, addressing its core features, concepts and issues Understanding the Australian Health Care System, 2nd edition is an excellent university book for undergraduate and postgraduate students alike. Published four years after the original, this second edition has been fully revised to reflect major Australian health care reform. Its fully up-to-date content includes current governmental and legislative changes impacting Australia’s health care system. Other topics addressed include quality and safety within the system, health insurance in Australia – both public and private – the PBS and integrated medicine. This outstanding medical book delves deeply into the system’s theoretical framework, structure and organisation and includes comparisons with the US and UK health care systems. This new edition of Understanding the Australian Health Care System will be a valuable reference for those studying health science, health promotion, sports and exercise science, physiotherapy, human services, nursing, midwifery, medicine, paramedicine, health system management, medical radiations science and health informatics. Online student and instructor resources Stronger focus on social determinants throughout text Addresses a wide range of health professions – now including disability professionals and social workers Current theoretical framework for healthcare reform (Tuohy 2009) Stronger focus on social determinants throughout text Addresses current position on national registration Features an excellent ancillary package on Elsevier’s Evolve platform Includes three new chapters addressing: disability professionals; quality and safety; and social work Reflects major health care reform in Australia (COAG 2009) Discusses current theoretical framework for healthcare reform (Tuohy 2009) New contributors

Paul Dugdale argues that Australia's health policy scene is in rude health, with regular debates about major reform and a steady stream of minor reforms. What motivates these debates and reforms? How can nine governments, and scores of professional associations, charities and businesses interact effectively without a master plan? Why are some health policy changes met with widespread enthusiasm and others enormous resistance? Dugdale traces the history of the economic and social forces which have shaped Australia's health system. He examines the thinking of government as it is expressed through contemporary health policy, and the roles of the key players including hospitals, the medical profession and health departments. He also discusses major current concerns including Indigenous health, health finance, the medical labour market, health protection and safety issues. With its insider's perspective on the health system and policy debates, Doing Health Policy in Australia is essential reading for health professionals working in management and policy roles. Paul Dugdale's account of health policy in Australia is engaging, philosophical, reflective and socially informed. - Professor Stephen Leeder, University of Sydney A distinctive addition to the pantheon of Australian books on health policy, weaving together social theory, history and philosophy with reflective commentaries on the Australian health system and health policy, and on being an activist within the policy-making world. It challenges convention and standard expectations. - Professor Vivian Lin, La Trobe University

Understanding the Australian Health Care System 4e is the essential guide to the complexities of health care in Australia. Key theoretical concepts and current issues along with the structures and policies influencing health care professionals are explored by leading experts led by authors, Eileen Willis, Louise Reynolds and Trudy Rudge. The text is divided into two sections. The first is about the multiple systems, services and schemes that make up health care in Australia. The second explores the roles of fifteen health professions working within the current system, with a focus on key themes of interprofessional practice, chronic illness, and quality and safety. Additional resources on Evolve eBook on VitalSource Student and Instructor Resources on Evolve Video interviews with practitioners and thought leaders Discipline-specific case studies Multiple choice questions Instructor Resources on Evolve PowerPoint presentations Tutorial planner Test banks

A century ago, health services absorbed few resources and provided little benefit. Since then, advances in medical knowledge and techniques have escalated both the benefits and the costs. The affordability of health services is being questioned in even the richest countries, and the economic aspects of health policy have become ever more intrusive. Australia is no exception, with its health system now absorbing 19% of all government tax revenue. Familiarity with economic issues - such as how to assess health outcomes, how to assign resources efficiently and what financial arrangements will promote equity as well as efficiency - is essential to understanding health policy. This is especially so at a time when the economics of health care are being internationally re-examined, with new forms of competition, challenges to public ownership and case-mix funding of hospitals under scrutiny, and a re-evaluation of the benefits of pharmaceuticals and new technologies underway. Economics and Australian Health Policy offers this understanding to readers with and without formal economic training. It starts with an introduction to both the economic way of thinking about health systems, and the context in which those economic questions are raised - the structure of the Australian health system, its culture and its patterns of financial flows. It then describes and appraises from an economic perspective the major components of the system and the policy issues which arise. This collection has been specially commissioned to address both Australia's most pressing policy issues and the needs of public health and health economic policy-makers, academics, commentators and students. The list of contributors reads like a who's who in Australian health economics, who have been encouraged, clearly successfully, to write accessibly yet with authority and conviction.

This updated and revised 5th edition of the highly successful book Health Care and Public Policy: An Australian Analysis, provides a comprehensive analysis of health care and public policy in Australia. It explains what governments have done and what they can do about shaping Australia’s health care system, and considers the political, economic, social and epidemiological contexts within which health policies develop, and the forces that promote and oppose change. This new edition revises all relevant data and provides a thorough analysis of the major policy shifts and changes since 2010. Recent changes include the commitment of the Commonwealth government to undertake major reforms to the funding and organisation of health services in Australia which were incorporated in the National Health Reform Agreement (NHRA) and accepted by all States and Territories in 2011. Health Care and Public Policy is an invaluable text for students in health administration, health planning, social work and social administration as well as students in all health-related courses and those working in health care, either in policy or service delivery.