Chronic disease not managed well in Australia
Chronically ill Australians are badly served by a health system in which practitioners do not share information and knowledge, to the detriment of both patients and the nation, according to a research paper released in Canberra.
The paper – ‘E-Health and the Transformation of Health Care’ – was authored by Professor Michael Georgeff, director of the e-Health Research Unit at Monash University and chief executive officer of Precedence Health Care, a start-up company aimed at improving the management of chronic disease.
The Paper, which was commissioned by the Australian Centre for Health Research, estimates that, in addition to the personal impact on patients, the overall cost to the nation may be as high as $7 billion.
According to Prof Georgeff more than one-quarter of all Australians are chronically ill and, for many, their medical needs are complex.
“Conventional approaches to health care are not suited for either preventing or treating chronic diseases. Chronic illness requires close monitoring and, often, intensive management by a team of health professionals.
“But because of the way our health system currently operates, one doctor will often not know what tests or medication have been prescribed by another doctor even when they are members of the same care team.
“Thirty to 50% of chronically ill patients are needlessly hospitalised because of inadequate care management. Fewer than 14% of these patients are placed on chronic care plans and less than 1% are tracked to see if they’re sticking to the plan. In other words, most of the plans prepared for these people are all but useless.”
Professor Georgeff said all the evidence was that better disease management, including better knowledge sharing, care coordination and remote monitoring of patients, would significantly improve health outcomes and cut costs.
