Critique of an Existing Health Program

This article provides a critical evaluation of an existing health program, discussing its strengths, shortcomings, and the need for change. It also explores how the program addresses primary care principles in a global context.

Critique of an
Existing Health
Proram

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND..............................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................2
Strengths and shortcomings of program along with requirement of change..........................2
How program address primary care principles in global context...........................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND
Primary health care programme refers a model which helps people in improving their
health as it focuses on all those areas which are related to problems and diseases of individuals
and communities. It is important to develop string primary health care program in order to make
sure that people can get effective healthcare services which they actually need. An effective
health care program improves coordination and also prevents them against diseases. One of the
main aims of health care program is to improve quality of living of people and decreasing
mortality rate by making them aware about importance of health care and access to healthcare as
well. In the context of healthcare program of Australia it can be said that healthcare system is
effective and government are playing effective role for providing universal health care federal,
local and state and territory. One of the main roles of federal government is providing funding as
well as providing indirect support to health profession (Australian Healthcare System: A Policy
Perspective, 2018). Main target of this selected Medicaid healthcare program is aboriginal people
as they have lack access to health care services. By developing this program, health care services
can be provided to them. By comparing health care system of Australia with other countries of
systems it highlights main issue and problems.
Health care program or system of Australia focuses on main 2 problems such as:
Resources allocation and performance outcomes improvements of patients. By making an
effective use of policy implementation related to health care quality of patients’ outcomes is
being identified. In this healthcare program and healthcare system of Australia some members
play an important role which includes: executive, hospital managers and healthcare management
practitioners. They all collaboratively use in disciplinary approach in making this program
successful and providing better health care services to patients or target people. There are main 4
principles of this primary health care program which include: promoting equality in order to
make healthcare essential as well as accessible for all especially to aboriginal. Achieving social
justice and reducing health inequality in health as a human right. Making people able to lead
economically as well as socially productive lives. Removing inequalities in health is one of the
main aims of this Medicaid health care program of Australia. This will also show some strengths
and limitations of this program in order to know areas of improvement and improving quality of
lives of people by providing them better healthcare services to them.
1

MAIN BODY
Strengths and shortcomings of program along with requirement of change
Australian health care program and system is known as one of the best in the organization. But
due to changes in needs of some health care this has come under pressure. Some significant
changes in healthcare need increasing demand of health care, inequalities, healthcare costs and
others. All these changes are putting pressure on health care system of Australia to make changes
and improve strategies of healthcare system. So, one of the main aims of developing this
healthcare program.
Strengths of this healthcare Medicaid program is it provides free access to health care services
to aboriginal and children and women. It also provides healthcare services to low income of
people which cannot afford costly healthcare which lead to increase in mortality rate and death
rate due to lack of access before the age. Improving healthcare access for aboriginal, low income
of people and the poor is strength of this program. Health care beneficiaries have increased since
the introduction of the Medicaid health care program as compared to the poor without the
coverage Comans & et.al., (2016).
Although different reports and data regarding Australia’ healthcare have been developed
and published by Australian state, federal and territories governments. In addition, it can be said
that Oxfam also plays an important role in developing healthcare services as it understands that
Aboriginal and Torres Islanders require health care services and they can do it themselves by
focusing on some factors like having nutritional food and others. They also stated that no one can
understand their circumstances and problems better than them.
They are required to make aware as how to take care of themselves and at their own with
the help of this development Medicaid health care program Health and Wellbeing Program,
(2018). With the help of this program they can also told some ways to control, making their own
best decisions and living a healthy lifestyle as like others. It can decrease gap between the poor
and the rich which is also preliminary aims of this development program.
Some shortage of this program and healthcare system is shortage of skilled workforce due to
workload and ineffective working environment to some extent. People do not prefer to work in
this sector because they have to deal with critical patients and people which increase their work
load. So, it can be said that these changes in needs are putting pressure to Australian health care
2

systems to make changes in some interventions and strategies. These changes can be
implemented by either retaining the program's distinct identity with a number of significant
expansions and modifications or by having the program enshrined within a wider national health
financing strategy.
WHO core principles of healthcare program: By knowing all principles of WHO in regards to
healthcare this Medicaid health care program can be developed and implemented successfully.
Some core principles which are being stated by WHO include: Managing safe as well as
sustainable health care waste is one of the main principles because improper management of
health care waste can create several problems to patients, health care providers and the
community. As per the core principle of WHO in regards to health care they stated that all
association and institutes who are associated with financing health care activities require to
provide finance and cost for reducing health care wastes in order to make its sustainable and
providing better and safe services to patients. It is also analysed that work load an ineffective
working environment is limitation of health care system and program of Australia which
increases workforce turnover rate WHO Core Principles for Achieving Safe and Sustainable
Management. (2020). So, by managing healthcare waste and focusing on this principle this
limitation and problem can be solved out.
How program address primary care principles in global context
This Medicaid health care program and system of Australia allow all health care workers to
improve services and access to the poor by which they can improve quality of their lives. In the
context of addressing primary care it can be said that some organizations who participated in this
program are playing an important role and their main focus is on transforming the close gap
campaign for indigenous and providing them health equality. By following all rule and
guidelines of Australian Government in health care services all principles of primary health care
are being addressed in an effective manner.
One of the main organizations which is playing an important role is National Aboriginal
community control health organization. This organization brings all male workforce together and
allow them to share their experience and provide better health care services to aboriginal and
Torres Islander. In addition, there are several other organizations and institutes which are also
supporting this Medicaid health care program in providing access to children, women and low
income of people, they are supporting in development of this program. A better funding model is
3

one of the main examples who distribute primary health care funding under IAHP which is
mainly developed for aboriginal community. It all helps in delivering primary health care. This
department help in developing this program because it works closely with stakeholders via
comprehensively primary health care. One of the main focus areas of this program and
department is developing funding model for Torres Islander, Aboriginal and low income level of
people. Some key benefits include of this program and reasons of working with Aboriginal
Community Controlled Health Services include: Annual indexation for all services, No service to
lose funding, 3 year funding agreements for greater workforce continuity and planning etc.
There are some barriers which occur in successful implementation of this Medicaid program
include: dealing with mental disabled people and males who consume alcohol to great extent and
increases domestic violence. Getting informations from them, identifying their problems and
reasons was one of the main tasks in accomplishing goals and implementation of this health care
programme Kuo & et.al., (2016). This presents a huge challenge in the vital fields of strategic
policymaking and budgeting, as well as the management of the program. Another criticism is the
fact that very few people have an understanding of the program as a whole. Other main problems
is lack of knowledge in some members which also make them dependent on others and cannot
make their own decisions and solve problems which can be time consuming. People also expect
too much from such kinds of programs and this Medicaid program is assumed to be the
alleviation for several social illnesses, many of which can be traced to their origin and can be
intervened outside the health care system.
In addition, in the context of reasons of developing Medicaid program and health care
program is Aboriginal and the poor face several difficulties in getting access to appropriate
mainstream primary health care services Access to Primary Health Care Services for Indigenous
people, (2016). So, it is important to think about them for reducing gap between the poor and the
rich as well as improving quality of lives of them. Making sure the accessibility of health care for
aboriginal or indigenous who are facing vast array of additional barriers which mainly include
discrimination and inequality on the basis of race, ethnicity and poverty. So, with the help of
primary health care program all social and cultural problems of healthcare like unemployment
and lack of education can also be addressed. Some departments who have participated in this
program believe that for improving health care services it is important to identify main root
cause of problems and which are lack of education, inequality, discrimination and lack of
4

motivation among these people. Overall it can be said that indigenous health care services and
this Medicaid health care program plays an important role which not only address health care
problems and improving health of people but also overcome cultural as well as social
determinants of health which hamper aboriginals from accessing effective health care services.
Medicaid population whose managed care programs have been designed for them have
also not experienced an impact on the system as a whole. There are some people who argued in
this program because of some reasons such as: program is costly and also difficult budget to
control and government is also expecting too much from this program and it is not possible to
solve all problems at once and in one attempt and one program only Indigenous Australian’s
Health Programme, (2016). In addition, it is also stated and can be said that Medicaid program
providers are often paid less compared to what they are paid by other private coverage, which
makes it difficult for freshly enrolled Medicaid beneficiaries to find a provider for their Medicaid
coverage.
So, overall it can also be said that by focusing on 2 main areas like education and
employment health care problems can be solved out by the Council of Australian Governments.
CONCLUSION
From the above study it has been summarized that health care program played a vital role in
improving health and providing full health coverage. Low earning people or aboriginal do not
have proper access to healthcare services so, by developing Medicaid health care program they
can get proper services. This study of critical evaluation of health care program has also
discussed strengths as low income of people and aboriginal can enjoy free access to healthcare
even costly long term care. Children and women of aboriginal can get all services. Further it has
also discussed all health care coverage and principles of this program along with roles of
government in funding and other activities.
5

REFERENCES
Books & Journal
Comans, T. A. & et.al., (2016). The increase in healthcare costs associated with frailty in older
people discharged to a post-acute transition care program. Age and ageing. 45(2). 317-
320.
Kuo, D. Z. & et.al., (2016). Health services and health care needs fulfilled by structured clinical
programs for children with medical complexity. The Journal of paediatrics. 169. 291-296.
Online
Access to Primary Health Care Services for Indigenous people. 2016. [Online]. Available
through <https://equityhealthj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12939-016-0450-
5/>
Australian Healthcare System: A Policy Perspective. 2018. [Online]. Available through
<https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5900819/>
Health and Wellbeing Program. 2018. [Online]. Available through
<https://www.oxfam.org.au/what-we-do/indigenous-australia/our-aboriginal-and-torres-
strait-islander-peoples-program/health-and-wellbeing-program/>
Indigenous Australian’s Health Programme. 2016. [Online]. Available through
<https://www1.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/09AEEA5F377AEB
B5CA257F1C00159135/$File/Indigenous%20Australians%20Health%20Programme
%20Guidelines.pdf>
WHO Core Principles for Achieving Safe and Sustainable Management. 2020. [Online].
Available through
<https://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/publications/hcwprinciples/en/>
6

7

1