MEDICAL POLICY – AUSTRALIA

Cancer therapy worth cost, doctors say

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Original article by Amy Corderoy
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: 15 : 27-Nov-14

Dion Forstner, the Royal Australian & New Zealand College of Radiologists’ faculty of radiation oncology dean, claims that under-resourcing by the Australian Government means many cancer sufferers cannot access potentially life-saving intensity-modulated radiation therapy. The body is lobbying the federal Medical Services Advisory Committee on the issue. Treatment rates in the UK have been lifted substantially after the Government set up a special funding vehicle with Stg23m

CORPORATES
THE ROYAL AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND COLLEGE OF RADIOLOGISTS, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HEALTH, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HEALTH. MEDICAL SERVICES ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Struggling for air as asthma rate ranks in world’s highest

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Original article by Amy Corderoy
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: 5 : 19-Nov-14

The "2014 Global Asthma Report" has been released. Co-author Guy Marks, professor of respiratory medicine at the University of New South Wales’s Woolcock Institute, says the data show that Australia has among the highest rates in the world. Some 10% of the population are affected, with 380 fatalities per annum recorded by the Australian Institute of Health & Welfare. National Asthma Council Australia CEO Kristine Whorlow recently welcomed a funding pledge of the Federal Government for a new national asthma strategy

CORPORATES
NATIONAL ASTHMA COUNCIL AUSTRALIA LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF HEALTH AND WELFARE, UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES. SCHOOL OF MEDICAL SCIENCES, WOOLCOCK INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL RESEARCH LIMITED

Australia to send Ebola volunteers

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Original article by Peter Hartcher
The Age – Page: 11 : 5-Nov-14

Insiders say the Australian Government will on 5 November 2014 reveal an initiative to help the fight against the Ebola virus disease outbreak in Africa. Australian volunteers will be given assistance to travel to Sierra Leone and staff a field hospital being constructed by the UK Government. Any of the medical personnel who contract the virus will be treated in the UK or Germany. The Australian Medical Association and the Australian Nursing & Midwifery Federation report that many of their members are ready to make the trip to Africa

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN NURSING AND MIDWIFERY FEDERATION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Business chiefs push for medical research fund

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Original article by Jemima Whyte, Joanna Heath, Jessica Gardner
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 28-Aug-14

Some business leaders are publicly supporting the Australian Government’s $A20 billion Medical Research Future Fund. UBS CEO Matthew Grounds, Wesfarmers CEO Richard Goyder and ASX CEO Elmer Funke Kupper are concerned that the measure will not be passed by the Senate. They said that it will provide social and commercial benefits for Australia, attracting capital and making the health sector more profitable

CORPORATES
WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES, ASX LIMITED – ASX ASX, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN MOTORING ENTHUSIAST PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HEALTH, HEALTHSCOPE LIMITED – ASX HSO

Co-payment faces battle in Senate

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 13-Aug-14

The Palmer United Party continues to oppose the Australian Government’s $A7 Medicare co-payment. However, Health Minister Peter Dutton says the current bulk-billing rate of 83 per cent is unsustainable and needs to be addressed. He has also foreshadowed exempting more people from the co-payment. Meanwhile, Treasurer Joe Hockey has urged the Senate to support the proposed reintroduction of fuel indexation

CORPORATES
PALMER UNITED PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HUMAN SERVICES. MEDICARE AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HEALTH, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. NATIONAL COMMISSION OF AUDIT, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

AMA demand could cost $2b

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Original article by Joanna Heath, Jacob Greber
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 4-Aug-14

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) has proposed a compromise regarding the Federal Government’s Medicare co-payment. The AMA wants pensioners to be excluded from the $A7 co-payment regime, while it continues to oppose the Government’s plan to reduce the Medicare rebate for GPs. The Government’s May 2014 Budget forecast that these measures would result in cost savings of about $A3.5bn, but this would be slashed by up to $A2bn if it agrees to the AMA’s proposals

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HEALTH, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, PALMER UNITED PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

GPs may charge higher co-payment

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Original article by Joanna Heath
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 10 : 30-Jul-14

Stephen Duckett of the Grattan Institute says the cost of visting a GP is a deterrent for many Australians on low incomes. There are concerns that more low-income earners will avoid visiting GPs if the Federal Government’s $A7 co-payment is introduced. Richard Bartlett of the Department of Health has conceded that GPs will be able to charge a higher co-payment. He also says the fee should have no impact on the provision of medical services

CORPORATES
GRATTAN INSTITUTE, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HEALTH, THE ROYAL AUSTRALIAN COLLEGE OF GENERAL PRACTITIONERS, AUSTRALIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION LIMITED

New testing kit will let people diagnose HIV from home

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Original article by Kate Hagan
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: 11 : 8-Jul-14

Australian Health Minister Peter Dutton has pledged to rescind a ban on the sale of home testing kits for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The move is being applauded by the National Association of People with HIV. John Skerritt, national manager of the Therapeutic Goods Administration, says the kit works in a way similar to a pregnancy test, but uses an oral swab. The product has already been widely used in the US. Dutton has also signalled that antiretroviral medicines to combat HIV will become more easily available under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HEALTH, AUSTRALIA. THERAPEUTIC GOODS ADMINISTRATION, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV/AIDS, ALFRED HOSPITAL

Abbott changes ‘a crime, absurd’

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Original article by Peter Martin
The Age – Page: 3 : 3-Jul-14

US-based economist and Nobel Prize laureate Joseph Stiglitz is visiting Australia. He has criticised some of the measures contained in the Federal Government’s May 2014 Budget, such as full deregulation of university course fees and co-payments for visits to general practitioners. Stiglitz also says the industrial relations system in Australia is superior to that in the US, as strong unions are a necessity in ensuring wages are high enough to boost the overall economy

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EDUCATION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HUMAN SERVICES. MEDICARE AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, NOBEL FOUNDATION

Most at risk avoid bowel cancer kits

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Original article by Dan Harrison
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: 13 : 24-Jun-14

Australians who turn 50, 55, 60 or 65 in that year receive a free bowel cancer screening kit in the mail from the Federal Government. However, data from the Australian Institute of Health & Welfare indicate that a mere 33.5% return the required faecal sample. This is despite the fact that by age 85, some 10% of men and about 7% of women will die of the disease. Bowel cancer ranks second only behind lung cancer in terms of death rates. A consultation with a doctor was recommended to 7.5% of those who did send in a sample in 2012-13

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF HEALTH AND WELFARE, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HEALTH