Larter Consulting

Dental Health Services Victoria continues to lead the way globally by transforming clinical practice and service delivery to achieve best outcomes for patients through value-based health care. To address inequities in care access and improve health outcomes for people disproportionately impacted by poor health, DHSV worked with consumers to codesign a value-based health care framework. The framework drives patient-centered care, measures outcomes that matter to patients and transforms service delivery. To deliver this required organisation-wide cultural shifts, good change management and clinical leadership. Improvements in service efficiency and effectiveness are a continued focus. Evaluation has shown that - compared to the standard care clinic - the VBHC model of care achieves: ✱ 44% lower failure to attend rate ✱ 36% higher preventive service utilisation ✱ Higher proportion of clinicians working to top scope of practice within a multi-disciplinary team ✱ Approx 80% of services previously provided by dentists were shifted to oral health therapists and dental assistants (releasing capacity of dentists to undertake complex treatments) ✱ Significant improvement in patient reported experience and outcome measures Key lessons from Susan McKee, DHSV CEO at the 2024 Australasian Forum on Person-Centred Value-Based Health Care included.... (1) adopting and implementing VBHC takes time and can be slow work (2) start small and incremental, demonstrate success and scale up (3) partner, partner, partner - with consumers and other stakeholders, and (4) take a flexible and adaptive approach to evaluation as implementation is not linear. #valuesbasedhealthcare #personcentredvaluesbasedhealthcare #usercentreddesign #consumerleadership #PCVBHCMelbourne24

Looking forward to gathering with top experts in clinical care, patient representation, industry leadership, policy, and health care systems in Melbourne over the next two days to talk all things values-based health care. Person-Centred Values Based Health Care emphasises the importance of ☛ understanding the values, goals and preferences of individual people ☛ measuring the extent to which people’s goals have been achieved and preferences respected ☛ using this data, where necessary, to support the interpretation of standardised datasets ☛ using user-centred design principles to develop and design services and pathways ☛using our understanding of people’s values, goals and preferences to inform meso and macro level resource allocation. #valuesbasedhealthcare #personcentredvaluesbased #usercentreddesign #innovation #PCVBHCMelbourne24 https://lnkd.in/epzpACBc

Bendigo Community Health Services (BCHS) recently navigated a period of significant transition that brought operational and leadership challenges that needed to be addressed. This case study explores how Larter partnered with BCHS in this journey, providing strategic guidance, operational support and clinical governance advice building on BCHS' 50 years of service to the community. #communityhealth #primaryhealth #arrch https://lnkd.in/gBWHAn_D

We hear on a regular basis from residential aged care homes (RACH) we work with about the need for pharmacy support. Residents and staff would like improved access to pharmacist advice, in order to: 📌 improve medication use and safety, including safe and appropriate use of high-risk medications 📌 provide continuity in medication management, including day-to-day reviews 📌 increase understanding of individual resident needs. From 1 July, funding is available through the Aged Care On-site Pharmacist scheme for: 📌 community pharmacies to place pharmacists in residential aged care homes 📌 residential aged care homes to engage an on-site pharmacist. We know that onsite pharmacists will provide greatest benefit when optimally integrated with the healthcare team, including local general practitioners, nurses and community pharmacy, and look forward to seeing how this works in practice. Read more about the funding opportunity here: https://lnkd.in/gwp5nt9h #pharmacy #RACH #residentialagedcare #onsitepharmacists #medicationmanagement #integration #teambasedcare

The 19th Australia’s health report has just been published, presenting the state of our health, with key findings on the health system, the health of Australians and factors that can influence our health. ☛ Over the last 100 years, life expectancy in Australia has increased considerably, and deaths from infectious diseases have declined. However, in 2022, COVID-19 became the third leading cause of death in Australia – marking the first time in over 50 years that an infectious disease had been in the top 5 causes of death. ☛ While Australia’s life expectancy at birth is fourth highest among 38 OECD countries, we also saw a very slight drop in life expectancy due to the impacts of COVID deaths over recent years. ☛ Today, chronic conditions remain an ongoing cause of substantial ill health, disability and premature death in Australia. Three in 5 people are living with at least one chronic condition and 2 in 5 are living with 2 or more. Over 90% of Australia’s non-fatal burden of disease is related to chronic conditions. ☛ In 2023, the leading causes of total health burden among females were dementia, anxiety disorders, and back pain. Among males, the causes were coronary heart disease, back pain, and suicide and self-inflicted injuries. ☛ A large part of the ‘health gap’ between First Nations and non-Indigenous people can be attributed to differences in social determinants (such as employment status, income and level of education) and health risk factors (such as smoking). Read the full report here: https://lnkd.in/gwp5nt9h #healthdata #lifeexpectancy #healthburden #healthsystem #chronicdisease #firstnationshealth

In an era of workforce shortages and growing population health needs, scope of practice extensions are currently under review in Australia. In a brief three-part series, we share examples of nursing, pharmacy, and medical practice scope extensions already in practice. Example 1 - Pharmacy in Queensland The Queensland Government is working with the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (Queensland), the Pharmacy Guild of Australia (Queensland), and other stakeholders to implement the Community Pharmacy Scope of Practice Pilot (April 2024-June 2026). Following an Australian-first pilot in North Queensland, the pilot is now rolling out statewide supporting pharmacists to improve access to healthcare for common health conditions, wellbeing services, and chronic disease programs. Following extensive education and training, participating pharmacists can treat and prescribe medicines for a range of common health conditions, including: 🔷 Acne, eczema, shingles, minor wounds, ear infections, support to quit smoking, hormonal contraception. management of weight and obesity, heart disease risk reduction, and improved symptom management for people with COPD and asthma. More information about the clinical protocols available here: https://lnkd.in/g8BfTUWs. Better utilising the skills and accessibility of community pharmacists to manage common acute conditions and better support chronic disease management has the potential to provide significant outcomes for communities, especially in rural and remote areas. We look forward to seeing how the collaboration and integration with general practice occurs at participating sites, and to evaluation insights emerging. #pharmacy #Queensland #ChronicDisease #RuralHealth #scopeofpractice #scopeofpracticereview #pilot

☛ We live in an Australia where over half (51.5%) of the population was either born overseas or had at least one parent born overseas ☛ We live in an Australia where nearly a quarter (22.8%) of the population speak a language other than English at home We know that, like other social determinants, culture, and language can affect: ♦ healthcare-seeking behaviours ♦ health system literacy ♦ perceptions of what it means to be healthy. And yet we also know that we do not consistently even capture cultural background data to inform our care. People from multicultural backgrounds often face additional barriers, on top of what is already a complex system, to accessing and navigating Australian health care. We know from the work we do on multicultural needs assessments, that ♦ language barriers ♦ health literacy challenges ♦ cultural safety and appropriateness of services ♦ stigma and discrimination ♦ socioeconomic and systemic factors all make access and equity more complex. This new national framework for Primary Health Networks will create a common language and roadmap to guide planning and implementation to work towards a more nationally consistent, and equitable, experience for Australians. #multicultural #CALD #diversity #inclusion #access #culturaldeterminants #culturalsafety

Great to have a GP in the role during a time of severe rural primary health workforce shortage, with opportunities to forge new collaborative working partnerships with other disciplines. We thank the outgoing Commissioner, Ruth Stewart, who played a key role in establishing formal recognition for rural generalists and increasing access to specialist GPs in rural areas. #ruralhealth #ruralleadership #primaryhealth #generalpractice

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of telehealth in primary care. In 2021, over 90% of MBS-billed telehealth consultations occurred over the phone, with video conferencing being a small fraction (Coviu Global: https://lnkd.in/g9dQiWYA; The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP): https://lnkd.in/gSxBdC3x). This raises the question: does the prevalence of phone consultations in telehealth impact the quality of care, and is it positive or negative overall? An evidence review from the University of Queensland published in May 2024 found that video consultations outperformed telephone consultations in 50% of the published studies, reporting superior clinical, service, or economic outcomes. Around 35% found both to be equally effective and only 4% of the studies favoured telephone as the most effective modality. #telehealth #primaryhealth #healthreform #healthequity

Only 10.5% of final year medical students have general practice as their first choice of career (RACGP). States and territories are actively stepping in to try to build the primary care workforce of the future. This week the Queensland Government has committed through its new Queensland Health Health Workforce Strategy to recruit junior doctors into GP training.  GP registrars are eligible for $40,000 in incentives throughout their training.  https://lnkd.in/gvxUfvEJ There are also additional incentives if they fill Queensland Health posts in rural or remote areas This mirrors the Victorian Department of Health General Practitioners (GP) grant program https://lnkd.in/dBPFqtEY These initiatives help remunerate junior doctors for the cost of GP training, and ultimately improve access to GP services in the future. We call on the Commonwealth to be bold in response to the forthcoming recommendations of the scope of practice review to help secure the future primary care workforce. #gptraining #primarycare #healthworkforce