Summary
The Australian health care system is currently in a state of reform and there is increasing
pressure to provide care in community settings. Rising costs, demands and population
ageing underscore the importance of adopting models of health care delivery to address
changing epidemiological patterns. Population ageing and the increase of chronic conditions
challenge models based on acute care. Changes to the Medicare benefits schedule have
facilitated the development of a range of expanded nursing services in the general
practice setting. In particular, item number 10997 was introduced to reimburse practice
nurses and Aboriginal health workers (AHWs) for providing monitoring and support to
people with a chronic disease for and on behalf of a general practitioner (GP). The
uptake of Medicare Item 100997 from 2007 to 2009, to monitor chronic disease interventions
provided by general practice nurses has increased dramatically. The rate of uptake
of Item 100997 has not been consistent across States and Territories, even allowing
for population distributions. Exploring reasons for these regional variations and
linking uptake of Medicare Item numbers to patient outcomes is important in developing
the nursing role in Australian general practice.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
April 26,
2010
Received:
April 23,
2010
Identification
Copyright
© 2010 Royal College of Nursing, Australia. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
