Academic Unit of Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine, 104822The Australian National University Medical School, Canberra, ACT, Australia; and Consortium of Australian-Academic Psychiatrists for Independent Policy and Research Analysis (CAPIPRA), Canberra, ACT, Australia.
Academic Unit of Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine, The Australian National University Medical School, Canberra Hospital, Canberra, ACT, Australia; and Consortium of Australian-Academic Psychiatrists for Independent Policy and Research Analysis (CAPIPRA), Canberra, ACT, Australia.
Australas Psychiatry. 2022 Oct;30(5):640-652. doi: 10.1177/10398562221104638. Epub 2022 May 30.
Since 2006, the Australian Federal Government has aimed at expanding mental healthcare through the 'Better Access' programme of Medicare-subsidised services by private practitioners. We comment on population access to subsidised mental health treatment via health professionals in Australia.
We descriptively analysed Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) data.
Increasing percentages of the Australian population of people received Medicare-subsidised services from 2008-09 to 2019-20. Population access to mental health treatment increased from 5.7% to 10.7%. In 2019-20, psychiatrists provided services for 1.7% of the population, while GPs provided for 8.8%, clinical psychologists 2.2%, registered psychologists 2.9%, and other allied health providers 0.4%. Over the period, numbers of Australian psychiatrists providing services increased, but the numbers of patients seen per year, and other indicators, have either been flat or declined. GP, Psychologist, Clinical Psychologist and other allied health consultations increased overall, but again the numbers of sessions have decreased.
Medicare-subsidised private practice has greatly increased population access to mental health treatment. However, there appear to be a relatively limited number of consultations per patient for most provider groups. Further research is required on the effectiveness of treatment through collecting data on casemix and outcomes.
自 2006 年以来，澳大利亚联邦政府一直致力于通过医疗保险补贴私人从业者的“更好获取”计划来扩大精神卫生保健。我们评论了澳大利亚通过卫生专业人员获得补贴性心理健康治疗的人群准入情况。
我们对澳大利亚卫生和福利研究所（AIHW）的数据进行了描述性分析。
从 2008-09 年到 2019-20 年，接受医疗保险补贴服务的澳大利亚人口比例不断增加。接受心理健康治疗的人口比例从 5.7%增加到 10.7%。在 2019-20 年，精神科医生为 1.7%的人口提供服务，而全科医生提供了 8.8%，临床心理学家提供了 2.2%，注册心理学家提供了 2.9%，其他联合健康提供者提供了 0.4%。在此期间，提供服务的澳大利亚精神病医生人数有所增加，但每年治疗的患者人数和其他指标要么持平，要么下降。总体而言，全科医生、心理学家、临床心理学家和其他联合健康咨询有所增加，但咨询次数再次减少。
医疗保险补贴的私人执业大大增加了人们获得心理健康治疗的机会。然而，对于大多数提供者群体来说，每位患者的咨询次数似乎相对有限。需要进一步研究通过收集病例组合和结果数据来评估治疗效果。
