Enhancing Leadership in the Aged Care Sector

7706MED : Enhancing Leadership and Management in the Aged Care Sector – Health Project Management

Scenario

Option 1: National Disability Insurance Scheme The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is a healthcare program established by the Australian Government in 2013 with the establishment of legislation – National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013. The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is the new way of providing support for Australians (and their families and carers) with a disability. As an insurance scheme, the NDIS takes a lifetime approach, investing in people with disability early to improve their outcomes later in life. For this iBrief task, you are asked to develop a comprehensive brief explaining the NDIS and associated broader disability reforms that are occurring in Australia; including a detailed outline and assessment of how the NDIS is funded (including an explanation of how this is an insurance scheme); and make your own assessment on the effectiveness of the implementation timetable for the scheme in Australia.

Option 2: Outcomes Funding Mechanisms At a recent presentation, the Director General for Health set out that there needs to be a renewed focus and understanding on the future of clinical outcomes funding mechanisms. Health organisations and facilities (in all three sectors: public, private and NGO) may receive funding based on single or multiple criteria such as activity, service type, case mix etc.

In this brief you are asked to prepare an overview defining and describing clinical outcomes funding models or approaches; where fully or in part, clinical outcomes are used at present nationally and internationally; and what are the key system, service settings, research and operational issues that need to be considered around implementing funding or payment allocations using clinical outcomes as a driver in those funding mechanisms.

Option 3: Technology and Procurement Strategies In health services the term ‘technology’ can refer to a range of things including biomedical equipment; drug and pharma therapies; models of care; medical and surgical procedures etc. A significant part of the costs and health economics of health system is major capital technology – technology that has high individual unit cost; has a long lifecycle; generally refers to plant and equipment used in health service delivery.

In this brief you should research and summarise an agreed understanding of what is major capital technology and what are the optimal health technology management strategies used throughout the world. From your research develop an effective planning, procurement and management outline (or approach) for optimal management of major capital technology in health organisations and health services.

Option 4: Primary Health Care and Specialist Referrals One of the key patient/client care clinical management systems in any health system is the referral of patients from primary care practitioners (e.g. general practitioners) to specialist practitioners and services (e.g. consultant specialists) in public hospitals. There are many strengths and shortcomings in this model of care. As populations’ growth; as specialised and sub-specialised services emerge; as clinical subsidiarity changes; as the need and demand for 2 nd opinions occur, it is useful to look at what alternatives or modifications of this primary and tertiary referral system might undergo into the future.

The Director General for Health has asked you for a brief on changes, developments and alternatives to this system of referral and management of specialist opinion, services and management. In your brief you should consider developed and developing alterative models of referral across the world and what program of reform you would recommend in the context of cost, quality, workforce and system integration issues.

Option 5: Health Accreditation to National Standards Health service accreditation (the external independent peer review assessment of an organisation’s level of performance to standards [ACHS]) is recognised as an important quality assurance and quality improvement approach in health and aged care. The establishment of sets of standards (publication of desired and achievable levels of performance and activity) that form the basis of these processes may either be developed or maintained by government or by other professional or qualified organisations and agencies.

Provide a brief on the current state of the use of standards in health care systems across the world. In your brief you should set out who owns and maintains the standards in each health system; similarities or otherwise of standards used in various health systems; information about the reported strengths and weaknesses of both the standards approach and the current standards in use.

The purpose of this brief is to provide a contemporary understanding of the use and effectiveness of standards in driving quality in health systems throughout the world. In your brief you should either focus on standards in the health care or aged care sectors but not both.

Question: 
Your task is to develop a national level strategy that summarises the literature both in Australia and overseas on frameworks for effective management and leadership in this sector and takes into account relevant regulation, legislation and funding.