Australian Centre for Value-Based Health Care

Australian Centre for
Value-Based Health Care
September 2019 Newsletter

Australian Centre for Value-Based Health Care Newsletter

On 20 August the Australian Institute for Health and Welfare (AIHW) released a new online Australian Health Performance Framework. While acknowledging that measuring the performance of our healthcare system is crucial to making better policy decisions, AHHA Chief Executive Alison Verhoeven called for a shift in data and performance reporting to drive towards an outcomes-focused health system that achieves better value in healthcare, addresses inequities, eliminates unwarranted variations and improves efficiency.

Ms Verhoeven said ‘My feedback and that of our members to the AIHW and governments is that at the moment the framework looks heavily “input-centric”. It is looking backwards and counting numbers of consultations, health system costs, numbers of admissions for condition X, numbers of consultations (not people) bulk-billed, and so on.

‘These things are obviously important, but they are not the only game in town.

‘We need to collect information that measures outcomes of treatments, as reported by patients as well as health professionals. We need to collect information that leads us towards getting better bang for our buck in healthcare—towards the procedures that are of proven good value, to the situations where patients are getting the best outcomes at an affordable cost.’

For more of AHHA’s commentary on the framework, visit the website.

This month the Australian Centre for Value-Based Health Care continues to concentrate on thought leadership in our next webinar with Dr Jas Saini in conversation with Dr Jack Cochran about his book Healer, Leader, Partner discussing the role of the physician-leader in leading change in healthcare.

The Centre is also seeking to provide new opportunities to build leadership and knowledge in the areas of value-based health care and policy advocacy with the announcement of an exciting opportunity for two individuals to undertake a six-month secondment within the Centre to undertake a strategic program of work. This is an exceptional career and professional development opportunity which offers the opportunity to make a significant and important contribution to the development of the work of the Centre.

Finally, don’t miss the October edition of the Australian Health Review journal which will focus on value-based health care.

Visit our website

Webinar: Healer, Leader, Partner - the role of the physician-leader in leading change in healthcare

18 September 2019, 9:30am (AEST)

Physicians undertake a noble, demanding profession, improving patients’ lives. But the rapidly changing world of healthcare, and the complex knowledge and technology involved, challenges this calling. Physicians need to be healers, conﬁdants, and caregivers while developing skills as leaders and partners. This new book by Dr Jack Cochran (available here) provides practical, actionable learning to help physicians become effective, compassionate, and conﬁdent leaders, transforming healthcare into what patients want, need, and deserve.

In this webinar Dr Jas Saini will interview author of Leader, Healer, Partner – A Manual For Effective Physician Leadership, Dr Jack Cochran, about the role of the physician-leader in leading change in healthcare.

About Dr Jack Cochran
Jack recently retired as Executive Director (CEO) of The Permanente Federation, headquartered in Oakland, California after a career that included both executive and clinical leadership roles. As a frequent speaker and author on a broad range of health care topics including health care delivery system reform, integrated care delivery, and health information systems, Dr. Cochran’s insights gained from decades of work on the front lines of health care provide a unique perspective which he shares in The Doctor Crisis: How Physicians Can, and Must Lead the Way to Better Health Care, a book he co-authored and now in Leader, Healer, Partner – A manual for effective physician leadership.

Dr. Cochran serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the National Quality Forum, the American Alliance of Community Health Plans, the American Medical Group Foundation, and the UCSF Global Health Group Advisory Board. For more than 30 years, he has volunteered his reconstructive surgery and consulting services in Third World countries, aiding underserved populations in Nicaragua, the Philippines, Ecuador, Tanzania, and Nepal. Dr. Cochran is also a past president of the Consortium for Community Centered Comprehensive Child Care (C6), a foundation that has built hospitals in East Africa. He is a vocal advocate for nurses and oversees the Lois and John Cochran Education Award, an annual scholarship given to oncology nurses at the Lutheran Medical Center in Denver, Colorado.

For more information and to register visit the website.

Secondment Program

The Australian Centre for Value-Based Health Care Secondment Program is now open for applications. It provides a rewarding and challenging opportunity for a high-achieving individual from a member or partner organisation to temporarily join the Australian Centre for Value-Based Health Care for a 6-month period with the option of a further 6-month extension to undertake a strategic program of work.

The Secondment Program has been designed to build leadership and knowledge in the areas of value-based health care and policy advocacy. It will provide opportunities for learning through introduction to a different working culture and exposure to new ideas, new contacts and diverse approaches to policy-making and the challenges and practicalities of advocating for policy and process change.

Secondments can be used for a range of purposes including providing career and professional development opportunities. The Australian Centre for Value-Based Health Care Secondment Program also offers member and partner organisations the opportunity to make a significant and important contribution to the development of the work of the Centre.

Two positions are currently open, an executive level position targeted towards an EL2 or executive team member, and a policy analyst targeted towards an EL1 or manager level team member. Position descriptions for both roles are available via the links.

To apply, potential secondees should send a cover letter outlining their interest in the role, along with their CV and a letter of support from their employer indicating their willingness to support them and the program.

Podcast - Re-orienting funding from volume to value in public dental health services

In June 2019, the Deeble Institute for Health Policy Research released a Health Policy Issues Brief on Re-orienting funding from volume to value in public dental health services.

Recently, Dr Rebecca Haddock, Director of The Deeble Institute for Health Policy Research, sat down with the brief's author Dr Shalika Hegde to discuss her policy brief and her experience with AHHA as a Deeble Summer Scholar. Applications for the 2020 scholarship program will open in October.

Listen to the podcast here.

Australian Health Review

The October edition of the Australian Health Review will be a special edition focused on value-based health care. The Australian Health Review is the peer reviewed journal of the Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association which is published six times per year. It explores major national and international health issues and questions.

The journal recently featured an editorial by Professor Christobel Saunders discussing how and what data needs to be collected and measured to move towards value-based health care. In addition to this editorial and the upcoming special edition, value-based health care will remain a strong theme for the the journal and as such the Australian Health Review is currently calling for submissions of papers focused on value-based health care.

For more information on the journal and how to submit papers, please visit the website.

Webinar: The state of safety and quality in Australian hospitals

22 August 2019, 12:30pm (AEST)

In July 2019 the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare published the report The state of patient safety and quality in Australian hospitals 2019. The report includes information about key advances in safety and quality in Australia; prevalence of common safety risks to patients; action taken to identify and drive the delivery of appropriate care; and the Commission's approach to supporting value-based health care. You can access the report here.

A/Prof Amanda Walker delivered a webinar where she focused on the key messages of the report along with a discussion of a number of aspects of the report.

You can access a recording of the webinar in the past events section of the website.

Help share the message.

As the Australian Centre for Value-Based Health Care commences work, you can help us grow by sharing this email with your colleagues who are interested in the future of value-based health care in Australia. Let's work together to purse the creation of a system where health care is funded and delivered with a prime focus on outcomes achieved at an affordable cost for patients and the health system.