Community preferences for organ donation and allocation in Australia. This work will provide vital information on the Australian public's attitudes and preferences towards organ donation and allocation strategies, and inform the development of a national organ donation strategy that considers the public's preferences for different policies to increase organ donor rates. This project will directly address the National Research Priority of 'promoting and maintaining good health'; increasing the a ....Community preferences for organ donation and allocation in Australia. This work will provide vital information on the Australian public's attitudes and preferences towards organ donation and allocation strategies, and inform the development of a national organ donation strategy that considers the public's preferences for different policies to increase organ donor rates. This project will directly address the National Research Priority of 'promoting and maintaining good health'; increasing the availability of donor organs, and improving the equity and transparency of organ allocation in Australia will lead to improved health outcomes for patients on transplant waiting lists around Australia, and improved health outcomes for patients not previously eligible for transplant (e.g. some dialysis patients)Read moreRead less
Bayesian Analysis of Treatment Effects in Experiments with Imperfect Compliance. This research has a potential to benefit society by providing methods to evaluate the effectiveness of medical treatments and socio-economic and health related interventions and policies based on experiments with imperfect compliance. The proposed methods are directly relevant to the second national research priority, as they can be used to test potential measures for preventative health care and to evaluate measure ....Bayesian Analysis of Treatment Effects in Experiments with Imperfect Compliance. This research has a potential to benefit society by providing methods to evaluate the effectiveness of medical treatments and socio-economic and health related interventions and policies based on experiments with imperfect compliance. The proposed methods are directly relevant to the second national research priority, as they can be used to test potential measures for preventative health care and to evaluate measures for strengthening Australia's social and economic fabric. The usefulness of our methods is demonstrated in the analysis of the effectiveness of a training program for the unemployed in alleviating negative mental health effects from job loss.Read moreRead less
Health Production Functions: Effects of Socioeconomic and Lifestyle Factors on Health Status. Improving the health and wellbeing of individuals is a priority for the Australian government. Empirical knowledge on the determinants of health is crucial for effective allocation of public health funds. We propose a thorough economic investigation into the interrelationships between self-assessed health, chronic conditions, obesity, private insurance status, and socioeconomic and lifestyle factors, us ....Health Production Functions: Effects of Socioeconomic and Lifestyle Factors on Health Status. Improving the health and wellbeing of individuals is a priority for the Australian government. Empirical knowledge on the determinants of health is crucial for effective allocation of public health funds. We propose a thorough economic investigation into the interrelationships between self-assessed health, chronic conditions, obesity, private insurance status, and socioeconomic and lifestyle factors, using advanced microeconometric techniques and comprehensive national and Victorian health surveys. We will link the micro-level findings to economic and policy implications for the Australian health sector and society. The research will be valuable in the design and evaluation of health promotion programs.Read moreRead less
Patient waiting times at public hospitals and the demand for private care. Public hospital waiting times compromise the objective of accessible health care for all Australians. Past policy focused on private insurance incentives to ease pressure on public hospitals. Current policy focuses on extra public provision. This will be the first Australian research to model the impact of waiting times on private health insurance and the choice between private and public hospital treatment. We will analy ....Patient waiting times at public hospitals and the demand for private care. Public hospital waiting times compromise the objective of accessible health care for all Australians. Past policy focused on private insurance incentives to ease pressure on public hospitals. Current policy focuses on extra public provision. This will be the first Australian research to model the impact of waiting times on private health insurance and the choice between private and public hospital treatment. We will analyse how waiting times differ by income, medical procedure and region, and quantify the benefits associated with different ways of reducing waiting lists. This research will provide an evidence base for effective policy design and lead to better targeting of health care investments.Read moreRead less
Economic analysis of inter-relationships between private health insurance and health expenditures. Health care services involve a complex mix of private and public funding and provision. The links between policy initiatives, such as private health insurance incentives, and outcomes are often unclear. This project involves a detailed economic and econometric investigation of individual health insurance and health care consumption decisions and their interaction, and the resulting impact on health ....Economic analysis of inter-relationships between private health insurance and health expenditures. Health care services involve a complex mix of private and public funding and provision. The links between policy initiatives, such as private health insurance incentives, and outcomes are often unclear. This project involves a detailed economic and econometric investigation of individual health insurance and health care consumption decisions and their interaction, and the resulting impact on health care utilisation and expenditure across public and private sectors. The significance of the project lies in its use of innovative methods to combine several data sources, and in the potential for the resulting models to predict the impact of future health policy initiatives.
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Incentives and performance in the health care system. Changes in financial incentives for health care providers will have direct effects on their behaviour, which in turn influences patients' health outcomes, quality of care, and access to health care for the population. The research will provide a richer understanding of the effects of incentives, and will influence policy on the design of incentives for health care providers in Australia. Changes in incentives will ensure patients receive mo ....Incentives and performance in the health care system. Changes in financial incentives for health care providers will have direct effects on their behaviour, which in turn influences patients' health outcomes, quality of care, and access to health care for the population. The research will provide a richer understanding of the effects of incentives, and will influence policy on the design of incentives for health care providers in Australia. Changes in incentives will ensure patients receive more appropriate, higher quality, and less costly health care, in the most appropriate settings, and delivered by the most appropriate health care providers. This will have direct effects on population health and well-being and the capacity of individuals to lead healthy and productive lives.Read moreRead less
Modelling Inequalities in Health in Australia in the Area of Obesity. This research will contribute to a body of knowledge that informs government policy and falls under a National Research Priority - Promoting and Maintaining Good Health. Obesity is a serious health problem among adult Australians and the situation is likely to worsen if left unchecked. The first task in addressing this issue is to identify who is at risk. In this project we will use multiple and robust techniques to examine t ....Modelling Inequalities in Health in Australia in the Area of Obesity. This research will contribute to a body of knowledge that informs government policy and falls under a National Research Priority - Promoting and Maintaining Good Health. Obesity is a serious health problem among adult Australians and the situation is likely to worsen if left unchecked. The first task in addressing this issue is to identify who is at risk. In this project we will use multiple and robust techniques to examine this issue. Our research will therefore help in targeting public resources to those that can really benefit, as we hypothesise markets in health do not clear efficiently for a multitude of reasons. Read moreRead less
Development of a Value of Life Framework to Assist Priority Setting Decision Making Across Sectors. The techniques used to evaluate life-saving interventions differ between health and other sectors. In health cost-effectiveness or cost-utility anlaysis is common, avoiding specification of a value for life. In contrast the transport and environment sectors use cost-benefit analysis and value life in monetary terms. This duality of approaches has resulted in a lower implicit value of life in th ....Development of a Value of Life Framework to Assist Priority Setting Decision Making Across Sectors. The techniques used to evaluate life-saving interventions differ between health and other sectors. In health cost-effectiveness or cost-utility anlaysis is common, avoiding specification of a value for life. In contrast the transport and environment sectors use cost-benefit analysis and value life in monetary terms. This duality of approaches has resulted in a lower implicit value of life in the health sector. The research will explore these differences and attempt to identify key attributes that influence how life is valued, to provide a framework for a single approach to the valuation of life, and the more efficient allocation of resources cross-sectorally.Read moreRead less
Social and health inequalities related to changes in drinking water in rural Victoria. This project will add significantly to knowledge about the role of water in health. Dental caries (decay) experience over an individual's life time is influenced by dental health in early childhood. Obesity and overweight in early childhood is also a predictor of later life obesity. Both these conditions reduce life chances and wellbeing for Australians and are costly for communities. Understanding why and how ....Social and health inequalities related to changes in drinking water in rural Victoria. This project will add significantly to knowledge about the role of water in health. Dental caries (decay) experience over an individual's life time is influenced by dental health in early childhood. Obesity and overweight in early childhood is also a predictor of later life obesity. Both these conditions reduce life chances and wellbeing for Australians and are costly for communities. Understanding why and how choices about drinks for children are made by parents using a longitudinal design will help to develop interventions and policies that support the use of water in preference to sweetened and acidic beverages. Read moreRead less
Blended payment systems for doctors: evaluation of an experiment. The results of the study will provide new evidence for health care policy makers in Australia (and internationally) on the effects of changing the remuneration system for GPs on the costs and quality of health care provided. The study will examine effects in the national priority and national health priority areas of preventive health care and chronic disease. The results will be relevant to other countries, such as the US and U ....Blended payment systems for doctors: evaluation of an experiment. The results of the study will provide new evidence for health care policy makers in Australia (and internationally) on the effects of changing the remuneration system for GPs on the costs and quality of health care provided. The study will examine effects in the national priority and national health priority areas of preventive health care and chronic disease. The results will be relevant to other countries, such as the US and UK, where blended payments schemes exist for GPs but have not been evaluated. Read moreRead less