Impact of Funding and Insurance Programs on Australian Healthcare
Discuss about the role of Nurses in bringing the transformative change in the health care.
There are several factors that help to predispose a population to the increased or decreased use of the health care services such as the application of special policies and procedures for making easier access to the health care services. Other factors driving the health care transformation includes fragmentation, access problems and the unsustainable costs, disparities and the suboptimal outcomes. Two key issues that have redesigned the health care system of Australia is the insurance program and the health care funding of the Australian government and the initiation of a cultural awareness while caring for the first Australian people.
This paper aims to focus on these two key factors and the role of the nurses in using these key issues for bringing the transformative change in the health care.
The Australian health care system has changed greatly due to the funding and administration by the several levels of government and is supported by the private health insurance arrangements. The funding of the Australian government has paved the way for a better access to treatment for all the classes of people (McCall, 2016).
The first key influence that has transformed the Australian health care system is the Medicare program in Australia. It is a universal health care program they are publicly funded. The Medicaid program is operated by the department of Human service of Australia (McCall, 2016). The Medicare provides with a range of medical services for free or at low cost.
This service enables the person to get lower cost prescriptions and free care as public patient in public hospitals. It enables the Australians to enjoy the subsidized treatment from the medical practitioners, nurse practitioners and specialist primary care services. It provided financial assistant to people in the form of rebates, help an individual to cover the cost of specialist services given by the nurse practitioners, dentists, the participating optometrists and other allied health care professionals (Meadows et al., 2013).
There had been a mounting dissatisfaction with the previous voluntary health insurance scheme and required for a major change. The major change was introduced in by the Whitlam labor government. It is the Medibank that commenced in the year 1975, and the health insurance bill established the Medibank (“Medicare services for Indigenous Australians – Australian Government Department of Human Services”, 2018). The hospital side of the Medibank provided free treatments in public hospitals and also provided subsidies to the private hospitals. Just after the dismissal of the Whitlam government the policies have changed. There are three major components of the health care that covers the medical services, the public hospitals, medical services and the pharmaceuticals. The Medicare covers the medical benefits schedule (MBS) that sets a fee for each service covered by the Medicare for which the government pays a fixed rebate(“What is covered by Medicare?”, 2018).
The Role of Nurses in Bring about Transformative Change
Under the hospital department of the Medicare system a patient can be treated in a public hospital at no charge. Under the Medicare program a patient can also chose a doctor if he/ she is privately insured. Under the medical part of the Medicare, the scheme would reimburse 100 % of a practitioner’s fee and 85 % of a MBS fee for a specialist (“Medicare services for Indigenous Australians – Australian Government Department of Human Services”, 2018) . Apart from this the Medicare provides consultation fee for the doctors, including the specialists, helps in reimbursing the money for the tests and the examinations required by the doctors. It helps to provide allied health services to an individual (Harrison, Bayram, Miller & Britt, 2015).
The RNs plays a pioneering role in any transformative changes occurring in health care. Nurses can act as nurse liaison for providing health care information to the patient, establishing the eligibility of care, communicating with the families and interacting with the concerned professionals responsible for the policy (Salmond & Echevarria, 2017). In order to accomplish this the nurses have to remain updated with the current policies and the procedures for providing standard of care to the patients. The schemes introduced by the Australian government have helped out the caregivers to extend their practice by providing acute care facilities to the underprivileged.
The word cultural awareness can be used to understand the differences between two cultures and their differences in traditions and the perception. As stated by Freeman et al.,(2014) cultural awareness can be considered as the foundation of communication and it involves standing back and to be culturally aware of one’s own cultural beliefs and perception.
Cultural sensitivity and cultural safety is the integral part of the nursing profession. This concept of cultural safety first originated in nursing under the leadership of Maori nurses like I.M Ramsden, after the grievances of the Maori nurses (Jeffreys, 2015). The concept of cultural safety became more prominent while providing care to the community of the first Australians. One of the definition of the cultural safety emerged from years of reflection, discussion and arguments between the indigenous and the non-indigenous students and the staffs (Baba, 2013).
The Australian government could not remain indifferent to the deteriorating health of the aboriginal Australian and hence had to extend their hands of help. While seeking help from the white Australians the major problem that was faced is the attitude of the non-indigenous population towards the aboriginal people (Baba, 2013). Previously before the emergence of the concept of cultural safety the Indigenous Australians were discriminated in terms of access to health care. They were being deprived from their cultural identity and was only provided with care or is assimilated in the western culture only if they could sacrifice their own culture (Baba, 2013). The history of colonization has been one of the social determinants of health for the aboriginals. The incorporation of the cultural safety in the health care is an effective tool in providing care to the indigenous Australians (Sherwood, 2013).
The Significance of Cultural Safety in Australian Healthcare
Among the number of frameworks for the aboriginal health care a cultural safe care is the most important aspect of aboriginal health (Freeman et al., 2013). As per the health survey reports it was found that the aboriginals were twice as likely to quit the hospital care due to racial discrimination or the health disparities in terms of specialized care and referrals (Herring ,Spangaro, Lauw & McNamara, 2013). While caring for the indigenous Australians it was found that there is an urgent need to understand and accept their culture, their traditional health beliefs and most importantly their concept of health beliefs (Baba, 2013). After the understanding of the social and the spiritual views regarding the aboriginal health, the need of a culturally safe care was largely anticipated.
The need of the cultural safety was important and was a matter of priority for any organization that were responsible for providing service delivery to the indigenous clients (Douglas et al., 2014). While addressing the health care requirements of the indigenous clients several factors were notified for example the cultural domain of these indigenous people, their strong sense of communal integrity their conservative thoughts regarding the gender matching (Holland, 2017). For example the indigenous women might not be comfortable to discuss the gynecological or birthing information with an opposite gender health care professional or due to the past history of the colonization history of the aboriginals it was very difficult for them to rely upon the westernized mode of treatment. These problems provided the rationale for including the indigenous health care professionals. It is the cultural safety that determined the pathways for the genuine empowerment of the indigenous clients and the indigenous stake holders (Holland, 2017). It was that for those who are anticipating working with the indigenous people there should be thumb rule to understand the preconceived idea of these people.
Throughout the centuries, the profession of nursing has been dynamic and is continuously improvising its role and expanding its horizon in healthcare. The increasing multicultural population of Australia requires that nurses provide a culturally safe care (Salmond & Echevarria, 2017). Although the Australian government has been trying their best to bridge the gap in the health care, the closing the gap on life expectancy are all off track. One of the main reason behind this is the lack of a cultural safe care.
Conclusion
In conclusion it can be said that change in the Australian health care has been fuelled by the modifications in the funding of the health care including the insurance coverage and the scope of benefits for the Australian public. Another key influence that has helped in the reshaping of the Australian health care is the cultural safe care to the Indigenous Australians that has helped the health care system to be more dynamic. The extensive Medicare scheme and the PBS scheme has helped out the Australian population to access health care benefits and special referrals in public hospitals. The aged population has also been facilitated by the policies. Furthermofe the practice of a cultural safe care enables the nurses to perceive the differences between the cultural backgrounds of different patients.
References
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Freeman, T., Edwards, T., Baum, F., Lawless, A., Jolley, G., Javanparast, S., & Francis, T. (2014). Cultural respect strategies in Australian Aboriginal primary health care services: beyond education and training of practitioners. Australian and New Zealand journal of public health, 38(4), 355-361. https://doi.org/10.1111/1753-6405.12231
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Holland, K. (2017). Cultural awareness in nursing and health care: an introductory text. CRC Press. https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=MwMvDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT10&dq=Holland,+K.+(2017).+Cultural+awareness+in+nursing+and+health+care:+an+introductory+text.+CRC+Press.&ots=KDIH0fVMAb&sig=00axg6-MuPGH67NoadwwDTJyG0c#v=onepage&q&f=false
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McCall, C. (2016). Concerns raised over future of Medicare in Australia. The Lancet, 388(10042), 323. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(16)31145-X
Meadows, G. N., Enticott, J. C., Inder, B., Russell, G. M., & Gurr, R. (2015). Better access to mental health care and the failure of the Medicare principle of universality. The Medical Journal of Australia, 202(4), 190-194. doi: 10.5694/mja14.00330
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Salmond, S. W., & Echevarria, M. (2017). Healthcare Transformation and Changing Roles for Nursing. Orthopedic Nursing, 36(1), 12–25. https://doi.org/10.1097/NOR.0000000000000308
Sherwood, J. (2013). Colonisation–It’s bad for your health: The context of Aboriginal health. Contemporary Nurse, 46(1), 28-40. https://doi.org/10.5172/conu.2013.46.1.28
What is covered by Medicare?. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.privatehealth.gov.au/healthinsurance/whatiscovered/medicare.html
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