The creation of a single ‘health care home’ where people enrol with a single provider who would coordinate multi-disciplinary care is one of the key ideas put forward in the Federal Government’s discussion paper on managing chronic disease in primary care.

The 28 page document drafted by the government’s Primary Health Care Advisory Group also discusses setting chronic disease payments for a defined package of care rather than individual services.

“It is essential to review chronic disease health care because the use of Chronic Disease Management Medicare items had grown by almost 17 per cent in 2013-14 compared to the previous year, with over $587.6 million worth of benefits paid for over 5.6 million services,” said Health Minister Sussan Ley in a statement.

The Primary Health Care Advisory Group will hold public consultations across Australia over the next month to finalise its recommendations to Government.

“I encourage all Australians including patients, health professionals and interested parties to look at the options included in the discussion paper and provide their feedback as we work hand-in-hand to deliver a primary health care system that better looks after Australians earlier,” Ms Ley said.

For a full copy of the discussion document click here.