Biomedical subjects

Kathy Mott

Publications and source records attributed to Kathy Mott.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2003

Are socio-economically disadvantaged Australians making more or less use of the Enhanced Primary Care Medicare Benefit Schedule item numbers?

We aimed to examine the relationship between levels of socio-economic disadvantage (measured by the Socio Economic Indexes for Areas [SEIFA] used by the Australian Bureau of Statistics) and uptake of the Enhanced Primary Care (EPC) item numbers on the Medicare Benefits Schedule. Health services are often less likely to reach those that most need them and so it is important to monitor whether disadvantaged communities are accessing EPC The rates of health assessments, care plans and case conferences are similar in each SEIFA quartile (from advantaged to disadvantaged populations), favouring the more disadvantaged quartiles in some cases. These national trends are not observed in each state and territory. For all EPC services combined, the lowest number of doctors that provide EPC services are found in the 2 most disadvantaged quartiles, yet more EPC services are provided in these quartiles, due to the higher mean and median number of services provided by general practitioners in these quartiles. Overall, populations living in the most disadvantaged quartiles have similar or higher levels of EPC uptake, apparently due, at least in part, to greater than average use of EPC services by general practitioners in these areas.

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PubMed2002

Collaborative medication management services: improving patient care.

OBJECTIVE: To implement and evaluate a collaborative medication management service model. DESIGN: Participatory action research. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: The study was conducted from March 1999 to March 2000; 1000 patients, 63 pharmacists and 129 general practitioners from six Divisions of General Practice in South Australia participated. INTERVENTIONS: A collaborative service delivery model, involving a preliminary case conference, a home visit and a second case conference, was agreed through discussions with medical and pharmacy organisations and then implemented. OUTCOME MEASURES: Medication-related problems; actions recommended; actions implemented; and outcomes after actions taken. RESULTS: Overall, 2764 problems were identified. The most common medication-related problem (17.5% of all problems) was the need for additional tests. Thirty-seven per cent of problems related to medicine selection, 20% to patient knowledge, and 17% to the medication regimen. Of 2764 actions recommended to resolve medication-related problems, 42% were implemented. Of the 978 problems for which action was taken and follow-up data were available, 81% were reported to be "resolved", "well managed" or "improving". CONCLUSION: This implementation model was successful in engaging GPs and pharmacists and in assisting in the resolution of medication-related problems.

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PubMed2002

Uptake of health assessments, care plans and case conferences by general practitioners through the Enhanced Primary Care program between November 1999 and October 2001.

We aimed to describe the uptake of the Enhanced Primary Care (EPC) item numbers listed on the Medicare Benefits Schedule for health assessment (HA), care plan (CP) and case conference (CC) between November 1999 (when these items first became available) and October 2001. We used data provided by the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing. General practitioners rendered 371,409 EPC services in all. Most services were HA (225,353; 61%), most of the remainder were CP (134,688; 36%), and CC comprised the rest (11,368; 3%). The number of HA done increased steadily and has stabilised at around 13,000 HA per month. Most CP done (80%) were in the community and with the GP preparing the plan. From a slow start, the number of CP done increased rapidly in 2001 to about 15,000 per month. There has been a slow and steady increase in the number of CC done each month, reaching 8-900 per month. Uptake of the EPC item numbers in the first two years of their availability has been rapid and has reached substantial levels, especially for HA and CP. The uptake of CC has been slower.

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PubMed2002

Variation in levels of uptake of enhanced primary care item numbers between rural and urban settings, November 1999 to October 2001.

We aimed to report on variation in levels of uptake of enhanced primary care item numbers between rural and urban Divisions of General Practice between November 1999 and October 2001. Most providers of EPC services and most services (close to 70%) are located in capital cities and other metropolitan centres. The average number of health assessments done per provider was slightly lower (8-14) in remote than urban and rural (20-30) areas. A similar pattern was observed for care plans, but rates of case conferences were similar in rural and urban areas. However, adjusted for population aged 75 years and over, in all jurisdictions except South Australia, between 30% and 144% more health assessments were done per full time equivalent general practitioner (FTE GP) in rural divisions. For rural and urban Divisions of General Practice, there is a wide range in the rate of services provided, between and within Divisions. However, overall, more services are provided per FTE GP in rural Divisions.

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