Around the world health systems are in crisis – increasingly failing to cope with growing demand, yet are becoming more costly. The proliferation of chronic disease, combined with population growth, has brought healthcare to a crisis point, and innovative solutions are urgently needed. Patients and the community quite rightly have an expectation that health outcomes will improve – a return on the massive investments in healthcare.
Australia is a world leader in value-based health care (VBHC), a whole-system approach to finding solutions to the complex problems our health system is tackling and reorienting players at all levels to focus on the collective goal of improving outcomes that matter to people and communities.
This very special issue of the Australian Health Review, the Australian Healthcare and Hospital Association’s peer-reviewed journal, features value-based health care articles by thought leaders from around Australia and internationally.
‘We are fortunate in Australia to be building our community of value-based health care experts, backed by robust research evidence,’ says Australian Health Review Editor-in-Chief Dr Sonĵ Hall.
‘If our health system is to withstand the tsunami of ill health we are facing then we must fully realise the benefits value-based health care can have for people’s and communities’ health and wellbeing.’
‘In this issue, AHHA Board Chair and former Health Minister for NSW, the Hon Jillian Skinner, discusses the link between integrated care and value-based health care, using lessons from the Integrated Care Strategy first introduced in NSW in 2014 which aimed to integrate the acute hospital system with community care options.
‘Dr Sally Lewis, National Clinical Director for Value-Based Healthcare at NHS Wales, discusses the shift towards a value-based approach to healthcare and the challenges facing global healthcare systems due to chronic disease, increased technology spending, and workforce shortages.
‘There is a strong synergy between the principles of value-based health care and implementing First Nations community-led healthcare based on connection to land, community, and holistic well-being,’ continues Dr Hall.
In a thought-provoking article, First Nations Physician Dr Alicia Veasey emphasises the importance of acknowledging the legacy of settler-colonial violence and systemic racism in Australia’s healthcare system. This piece calls for recognition of the ongoing effects of colonialism and the need for truth-telling, treaty, and solidarity with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples for the successful implementation of equitable VBHC in Australia.
‘Transitioning systems to value-based health care is an imperative, and some excellent articles on creating change from Queensland are featured in this issue. As are other articles from Specialists aimed at improving breast and lung cancer care and outcomes followed by research into the financial implications of prostate cancer for men.’
The Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association (AHHA) is the independent peak membership body and advocate for the Australian healthcare system and a national voice for universally accessible, high quality healthcare in Australia.
Media enquiries: Dr Sonĵ Hall, Editor in Chief, Australian Health Review
0427 613 587
