Diabetes Australia welcomes diabetes care plan

Diabetes Australia supports the Rudd Government’s initiative to implement changes in the primary health treatment of Australians with diabetes. Acting CEO for Diabetes Australia, Mr Greg Johnson, told Endocrinology Update that they welcomed the announcement, which is part of the $436 million National Health and Hospitals Network, and said it was time for new funding and new approaches to diabetes care given the increases in cases in Australia. Mr Johnson said around 32% of diabetes related hospital admissions were avoidable. “There is good evidence that where there is investment in GP focussed multidisciplinary care there are better outcomes and less admissions,” he said. A statement from the Prime Minister’s Office on the initiative said GPs will become responsible for managing diabetes care and patients signing up to the scheme will no longer have access to traditional fee-for-service MBS items. The Government said it would work with patient and health consumer representatives and key primary health care groups, including GPs and allied health providers, on detailed implementation arrangements for this policy and expects about 60% of all GPs to sign up to the program by 2012-13. Under the plan, practices will be offered payments of around $1200 a year for every enrolled patient to cover the costs of day-to-day GP care and additional services. They will also receive $10,800 a year based on a list of performance measures that have yet to be detailed. About 260,000 patients with diabetes will be “voluntarily enrolled in a personalised care program by 2013-14.” However, the AMA president Dr Andrew Pesce said that the Government’s proposed “voluntary enrolment plan” for people with diabetes was policy on the run that would make it more difficult for patients to access vital GP services. “By removing fee for service, the Government is removing patient choice about their primary care and eroding the individual doctor-patient relationship,” he said. Greg Johnson disagrees saying that “this is a voluntary process so the choice stays.” “What diabetics want is access to good multidisciplinary care as they can find negotiating the current system difficult,” he added....