HOSPITALS – AUSTRALIA

Emergency key to $1bn costs shift

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Original article by Sean Parnell
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 24-Apr-18

Health insurers claim that they are being billed more $A1 billion a year for treatments in public hospitals that patients are otherwise entitled to receive for free. Much of the problem appears to lie with emergency admissions, with a 144 per cent increase in private emergency admissions over the past decade. The number of public patient admissions in the same period has only risen by 26 per cent. Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt has made it known that he wants changes to the way that emergency departments operate.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HEALTH, QUEENSLAND HEALTH

Make states fund health: PM’s office

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 23-Jun-15

A leaked green paper from the Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet outlines a number of potential options for reforms to the public hospital system. They include transferring all responsibility for funding and operating the public health system to the states and territories, establishing a system similar to the Medicare Benefits Schedule for public and private hospitals, and making health care entirely funded at federal level.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, SOUTH AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PREMIER AND CABINET

Medicare cuts threaten emergency departments

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Original article by Julia Medew
The Age – Page: 7 : 14-Jan-15

Stephen Parnis, vice-president of the Australian Medical Association, has warned of increased stress on hospital emergency departments. He argued that the experience in the UK showed the Australian Government’s planned cuts worth $A3.5bn to the Medicare bulk billing system would lead to patients avoiding general practitioner (GP) visits and instead present at public hospitals. While Simon Judkins of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine agrees, he says an even greater issue will be patients with multiple illnesses failing to visit GPs as they can no longer afford to seek appropriate care

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION LIMITED, THE AUSTRALASIAN COLLEGE FOR EMERGENCY MEDICINE, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HUMAN SERVICES. MEDICARE AUSTRALIA, VICTORIA. DEPT OF HEALTH

Drunks make hospitals hell

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Original article by Cathy O’Leary
The West Australian – Page: 3 : 6-Nov-14

A survey by the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine has revealed that intoxicated patients are a major problem for staff of emergency departments at Australian hospitals. More than 90 per cent of the 2,000-plus respondents indicated that they had been threatened or assaulted by a patient who was under the influence of alcohol in the last year. Medical professionals have urged action to address the issue

CORPORATES
THE AUSTRALASIAN COLLEGE FOR EMERGENCY MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION (WESTERN AUSTRALIA), COLLEGE OF EMERGENCY NURSING AUSTRALASIA LIMITED, McCUSKER CENTRE FOR ACTION ON ALCOHOL AND YOUTH