Child Dental Benefit Policies and the Health of Australian Children. This project aims to examine the early effects of two recent initiatives by the Australian government to improve children’s dental health by providing funds to cover essential dental services for children from disadvantaged families. It explores the factors affecting eligible children’s access to benefits from these initiatives and identifies the causal impacts of these changed health care financing arrangements on children’s c ....Child Dental Benefit Policies and the Health of Australian Children. This project aims to examine the early effects of two recent initiatives by the Australian government to improve children’s dental health by providing funds to cover essential dental services for children from disadvantaged families. It explores the factors affecting eligible children’s access to benefits from these initiatives and identifies the causal impacts of these changed health care financing arrangements on children’s consumption of dental services, indicators of oral health and general health, and other indicators of cognitive and non-cognitive development. Using advanced econometric techniques and panel datasets, this project is expected to contribute to the development of effective policies for promoting health and wellbeing.Read moreRead less
Nanny state or good public policy: Do the benefits of mandatory health programs justify the loss of consumer choice? Governments are increasingly turning to mandatory programs to improve health. Such programs are appealing because there are high health benefits from universal participation and low costs for promotion and monitoring the program. However, this apparent benefit relies on restriction of personal choice, which may impose welfare losses on consumers. Evaluations generally ignore loss ....Nanny state or good public policy: Do the benefits of mandatory health programs justify the loss of consumer choice? Governments are increasingly turning to mandatory programs to improve health. Such programs are appealing because there are high health benefits from universal participation and low costs for promotion and monitoring the program. However, this apparent benefit relies on restriction of personal choice, which may impose welfare losses on consumers. Evaluations generally ignore loss of choice, despite evidence suggesting consumers value the ability to choose. This study will estimate the impact and value this loss of consumer choice, explore program specific factors and consumer characteristics influencing the valuation, and determine whether and how restricted choice should be explicitly considered when evaluating public health programs.Read moreRead less
Modelling community preferences for health policy: how choice experiments can inform the organisation of acute health services for older Australians. This work will provide vital information on community preferences to inform health policy regarding how we should best organise acute healthcare for older Australians. It addresses one of the most pressing health policy issues in Australia: how to maintain a sustainable, equitable and responsive health care system, in the face of an ageing populati ....Modelling community preferences for health policy: how choice experiments can inform the organisation of acute health services for older Australians. This work will provide vital information on community preferences to inform health policy regarding how we should best organise acute healthcare for older Australians. It addresses one of the most pressing health policy issues in Australia: how to maintain a sustainable, equitable and responsive health care system, in the face of an ageing population.Read moreRead less
The role of taxes and subsidies in promoting healthy lifestyles: an economic analysis. This project will look at two critically important policy relevant questions in public health terms - obesity prevention and changing consumption patterns with respect to drinks consumption, including alcohol.
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
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE220100663
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$440,850.00
Summary
The Real Price of Health: Experiences of Out-of-Pocket Costs in Australia. This project aims to investigate the experiences and preferences of Australian families and individuals on low, middle, and high incomes in managing the out-of-pocket costs of chronic disease. This project aspires to ensure outcomes that are relevant to the public and patients through involving people living with chronic disease in the research team. The project expects to generate a discrete choice model that describes p ....The Real Price of Health: Experiences of Out-of-Pocket Costs in Australia. This project aims to investigate the experiences and preferences of Australian families and individuals on low, middle, and high incomes in managing the out-of-pocket costs of chronic disease. This project aspires to ensure outcomes that are relevant to the public and patients through involving people living with chronic disease in the research team. The project expects to generate a discrete choice model that describes people with chronic diseases’ preferences, and the trade-offs that they are faced with when deciding how to manage out-of-pocket health costs. The evidence arising from this innovative study will be used to directly inform Australian health policy, leading to wide-ranging health and economic benefits for the whole community.Read moreRead less
The Medicare Safety Net and its effect on efficiency, equity and welfare. This project aims to measure the welfare implications of social health insurance reforms. It will use the introduction of the Extended Medicare Safety Net to examine the effect of social insurance reforms on the efficiency and equity of Australia's health care system. The project expects to produce evidence on the partial and aggregate effects of the Medicare Safety Net and knowledge on the relationship between social insu ....The Medicare Safety Net and its effect on efficiency, equity and welfare. This project aims to measure the welfare implications of social health insurance reforms. It will use the introduction of the Extended Medicare Safety Net to examine the effect of social insurance reforms on the efficiency and equity of Australia's health care system. The project expects to produce evidence on the partial and aggregate effects of the Medicare Safety Net and knowledge on the relationship between social insurance and health system performance. In doing so, the research seeks to help policy makers to improve the design of social health insurance programmes to make the system more sustainable and equitable.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
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
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