Australian health review : a publication of the Australian Hospital Association
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This paper analyses recent health reform agenda in Canada. From 1988 until 1997, the first phase of reforms focused on service integration through regionalisation and a rebalancing of services from illness care to prevention and wellness. ⋯ Despite numerous commissions and studies, some questions remain concerning the future direction of the public system. The Canadian reform experience is compared with recent Australian health reform initiatives in terms of service integration through regionalisation, primary care reform, Aboriginal health, the public-private debate, intergovernmental relations and the role of the federal government.
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Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical Trial
A transitional care service for elderly chronic disease patients at risk of readmission.
Multiple hospital admissions, especially those related to chronic disease, represent a particular challenge to the acute health care sector in Australia. ⋯ The outcomes of this study reflect the tension that exists between implementing multifaceted integrated health service programs and attempting to evaluate them within complex and changing environments using robust research methodologies.
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To model the effectiveness of after-hours general practice (GP) in reducing metropolitan Perth emergency departments' (ED) low acuity patient (LAP) attendances and costs. ⋯ Low acuity patients form a relatively constant, inexpensive proportion of ED workloads. After-hours GP LAP services are unlikely to significantly reduce ED attendances or costs.
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There is tension between the need of the pharmaceutical innovator for intellectual property protection and the need of society for equitable and affordable access to innovative drugs. The recent Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement provides a nice illustration of this interplay between patents, pills and politics. This article provides a brief history of patent law as applied to pharmaceuticals, describes how the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme got caught up in AUSFTA negotiations, analyses the clauses that are likely to impact upon the PBS and describes the political process that reviewed and ultimately amended the AUSFTA.
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This article analyses the impact of the Department of Health and Ageing's brand price premium policy for some products listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. The policy, introduced in 1990, allows pharmaceutical companies to charge patients an out-of-pocket expense for post-patent brands of pharmaceuticals. ⋯ This article looks at how the brand price premium policy can be exploited by global pharmaceutical giants to entrench big-name brands in the Australian pharmaceutical market and, in some cases, prevent 'true' competition from generic pharmaceuticals. This is being done through the establishment of 'pseudo-generics' that are sourced from the same factory floor as the original product.