Comprehensive Analysis of the Australian Healthcare System

This assignment provides a comprehensive analysis of the Australian healthcare system, beginning with an overview of the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) and the functions of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA). It then explores the benefits of professional indemnity insurance, Medicare benefits, and private health insurance, including rebates and coverage details. The document further examines health promotion, healthcare service strengths and weaknesses, and workforce shortages. Key concepts such as levels of healthcare, health issues among immigrants, and social determinants of health are also addressed. The assignment concludes with discussions on disease, behavioral factors, and alternative medicines, including principles of wellness. References include Miller, Ferrer, Macdonald, Australia, Duffield, and Kim.

1.
Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA)
2.funtions of NMBA (Duffield, et al, 2011).
 undertaking nursing and midwifery practitioners and student’s registration.
 developing standards, codes and guidelines for the nursing and midwifery
practice.
 handling notifications, complaints, investigations and disciplinary hearings
regarding those registered
 assessing practitioners who undertook training outside Australia and wish to
practice in Australia
 approving accreditation standards and accredited courses of study.
3.
 Access to legal representation.
 A professional indemnity insurance.
 $400 online CPD credit for professionals and $80 for the students and associate
members.
 Can access ANMF library and academic resources.

4.
Medicare benefit schedule includes a scheduled fee for the services offered considered as
rebates (Australia, 2010). In the government hospitals, for general practice one can claim
100% rebates and 85 % on non GP services. In private hospitals, 75% rebates will be paid
for services offered. This means they can walk into public hospital and receive services
for free. Patient will utilize the taxes they pay in medical care.
Private insurance health coverage includes paying premiums to an insurer who would pay
for services in a health facility. This plan includes a wider range of services offered to
consumers covered and paid by the insurer for instance dental cover. There is a shorter
waiting time in hospitals. One has the opportunity to choose the surgeon or doctor of
choice.one can also avoid paying the Medicare monthly charges.
The DVA Gold Card offers cover to those who are eligible under Veterans’ Entitlements
Act 1986 (VEA) and the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004 (MRCA).
The dependents of the veterans receive can use the card.it entitles a holder to transport
related to treatment. It also offers a repatriations pharmaceutical benefit scheme for its
member. With a valid referral or prescription, the can receive services in medical and
surgical care, dental, pharmaceutical rehabilitation and community nursing.
5. Benefits of private health insurance.
 One can choose the doctor or surgeon of their choice.
 There is shorter waiting time to receive services.
 One can claim back money on non-Medicare health services.

 It has a dental cover.
6.
a. health promotion
b.
 withdrawal of some of the services directly funded
 increased prevalence of some controllable diseases.
 Decrease in research.
7.
Healthcare services offered in my region
 Mental health services
 Palliative care
 Pharmacy
 Medicare
Strengths of mental health services.
 Enable targeting of a specific population
 Good geographical spread allowing accessibility.
 Promote a teamwork model with allied health profession.
Weaknesses in mental health services.

 Currently does not provide target services for most needed services.
 Difficulty in meeting the demand for services.
 Quality assurance has been varied.
Strengths of Medicare
 Cost effective to the patient as some services are free.
 Regulated fees for services.
 Wide range of services offered.
Weakness of Medicare.
 Shortage of workforce.
 Long waiting hours.
 Some services are not covered
8
 There has been a persistent shortage of workforce. This has culminated in
very long waiting times before a patient can see a doctor.
 Rural and remote general practitioner’s programs have been put in place.
The placement of general practitioners in remote areas to increase the
capacity to handle a large number of patients.
 The method is has brought very minimal changes as there are still a large
number of people not attended to in time. A large number of practitioners

have opted to decline to such an offer. The number of practitioners has
chronically remained very little.
9.
health is as a state of complete physical, mental social, spiritual and emotional
wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or wellbeing.
10.principles of primary health care (Macdonald, 2013).
 Social justice.
 Community Participation in healthcare provision
 Coordination between different sectors
 Appropriate Technology
 Universal access to healthcare
 Preventive healthcare
 Sustainability of the measures implemented
11. levels of healthcare (Kim, Farmer & Porter, 2013).
 Primary level – by the individuals, family and community. Including
nutrition and hygiene habits
 Secondary level- includes more complex issues involving the hospitals
and health centers
 Tertiary level –involves specialized healthcare services from
specialties.

12.health issues among immigrants
 Mental health issues.
 Parasitic infection.
 Hepatitis B
Services offered
 Immunization and treatment
 Education on prevention
14.
 Circulatory diseases.
 Neoplasms
 Endocrine, metabolic and nutritional disorders.
 Respiratory diseases
15.
 dieticians.
 Exercise physiologists.
I. Educating the community of their availability.
II. Customizing them to be culturally acceptable
III. Offering them at an affordable price

IV. Identifying the needs of community and offering services that meet
them
16.
Social determinants of health (Ferrer, 2018).
Social and economic environment. –the level of education and the economic
status determines the health seeking behavior. The social support framework
has some influence
Physical environment – safe drinking water and healthy workplace and
housing. Infrastructure that supports health service access such as roads.
Persons individual’s characteristics and behavior- determines the healthy
lifestyle and habits adopted. Genetics has some bearing on emergence of
some diseases.
17.
Coronary heart disease.
18.
behavioral health factor
 Diet

 Alcohol consumption
Biomedical factors
 Obesity
 High blood pressure
19.
Excessive alcohol consumption is associated with liver cirrhosis and stroke
Obesity is associated with cardiovascular diseases
20.
 Acupuncture – used in treatment of physical and mental conditions,
needles are inserted in lines of energy
 Herbal medicine. Obtained from plants and have some medicinal
value. They complement the conventional methods.
 Mind-body interventions – they create awareness of the conditions an
individual has and enables them to gather energies to deal with them.
21.
Chinese medicines are in the group of alternative medicines that have not
been scientifically proven. I would advise the patient to stop using them until
it is proved safe to use.

22.
Deceptive administration of a placebo
23.principles of wellness (Miller, 2018)
a. Wellness is holistic.
b. Wellness is one’s responsibility.
c. Self is the only true healer.
d. Wellness is an active process.
e. Wellness is outcome oriented.
f. Positivity is a form of empowerment.
g. Prevention to eliminate need for treatment.

References.
Miller, C. A. (2018). Nursing for wellness in older adults. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Ferrer, R. L. (2018). Social Determinants of Health. In Chronic Illness Care (pp. 435-449).
Springer, Cham.
Macdonald, J. J. (2013). Primary health care: medicine in its place. Routledge.
Australia, M. (2010). Medicare benefits schedule. Canberra: Department of Health and Ageing.
Duffield, C. M., Gardner, G., Chang, A. M., Fry, M., & Stasa, H. (2011). National regulation in
Australia: A time for standardisation in roles and titles. Collegian, 18(2), 45-49.
Kim, J. Y., Farmer, P., & Porter, M. E. (2013). Redefining global health-care delivery. The
Lancet, 382(9897), 1060-1069.