Cataract and crash risk for older drivers: evidence from a population based study. Older drivers are the fastest growing segment of the driving population, which has implications for road safety. The removal of cataract is a common surgical procedure for older drivers, therefore, it is necessary to determine the effects of cataract surgery on crash risk. This project will be the largest population based study to examine crash risk for older drivers with cataract and the cost-effectiveness in ter ....Cataract and crash risk for older drivers: evidence from a population based study. Older drivers are the fastest growing segment of the driving population, which has implications for road safety. The removal of cataract is a common surgical procedure for older drivers, therefore, it is necessary to determine the effects of cataract surgery on crash risk. This project will be the largest population based study to examine crash risk for older drivers with cataract and the cost-effectiveness in terms of a reduction in crashes. The development of effective countermeasures will have direct relevance for road safety, medical practitioners and licensing authorities in Australia and is also pivotal to reducing the financial burden associated with older driver crashes.
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Improving external validity of stated choice experiments. This project aims to deliver more accurate estimates of choice behaviour by reducing biases due to choice task complexity in surveys as well as design artefacts. Extracting 'true' preferences is challenging, not only due to possible hypothetical bias, but also due to increasingly complex choice tasks and the existence of design artefacts. This project will investigate the latter two in the context of marketing, transport, health, and envi ....Improving external validity of stated choice experiments. This project aims to deliver more accurate estimates of choice behaviour by reducing biases due to choice task complexity in surveys as well as design artefacts. Extracting 'true' preferences is challenging, not only due to possible hypothetical bias, but also due to increasingly complex choice tasks and the existence of design artefacts. This project will investigate the latter two in the context of marketing, transport, health, and environmental economics, and proposes new methodologies to extract preferences that more closely reflect true behaviour in real markets.Read moreRead less
Moral Hazard and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. The extent and significance of moral hazard in the PBS is an issue of significance for all Australians. Pharmaceuticals are a central feature in maintaining the health of Australians and with factors such as an ageing population and technological advances the centrality of pharmaceuticals is likely to be consolidated One, if not the, major challenge will be how to provide pharmaceuticals efficiently, equitably and sustainably. If significant a ....Moral Hazard and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. The extent and significance of moral hazard in the PBS is an issue of significance for all Australians. Pharmaceuticals are a central feature in maintaining the health of Australians and with factors such as an ageing population and technological advances the centrality of pharmaceuticals is likely to be consolidated One, if not the, major challenge will be how to provide pharmaceuticals efficiently, equitably and sustainably. If significant and extensive, moral hazard potentially compromises PBS efficiency and threatens sustainability. The proposed project represents a significant empirical contribution to understanding the impact of moral hazard on the PBS and will make a significant contribution towards making the PBS sustainableRead moreRead less
Development and implementation of an evidence-based primary health care workforce planning model to support best practice chronic disease management. The workforce model will inform government health workforce and health services planning, with the promise of improving access to best practice care for persons with diabetes, and potentially other chronic conditions, that represent the dominant Australian health burden. It also will inform education and training of health professionals and support ....Development and implementation of an evidence-based primary health care workforce planning model to support best practice chronic disease management. The workforce model will inform government health workforce and health services planning, with the promise of improving access to best practice care for persons with diabetes, and potentially other chronic conditions, that represent the dominant Australian health burden. It also will inform education and training of health professionals and support a more flexible response to health workforce needs. Given projected health work force shortages, flexibility in responding to health care needs will be crucial to maintaining health system capacity. The model supports system level change that will enable improved population health outcomes, reduce preventable hospital admissions and deliver production gainsRead moreRead less
Physician Preferences for Medical Innovation. This project aims to identify the causes and consequences of medical practice variations by providing new evidence on the process through which physicians adopt and use new medical technology. This project expects to generate new knowledge on how physicians' human and social capital determine their preferences for taking up new medical technology and the economic consequences of such decisions. Expected outcomes of this project include a greater unde ....Physician Preferences for Medical Innovation. This project aims to identify the causes and consequences of medical practice variations by providing new evidence on the process through which physicians adopt and use new medical technology. This project expects to generate new knowledge on how physicians' human and social capital determine their preferences for taking up new medical technology and the economic consequences of such decisions. Expected outcomes of this project include a greater understanding of the sources for and costs of inappropriate use of healthcare, such as low-value care. This should provide significant benefits, such as contributing to the construction of effective policies for improving efficiency and equity of the healthcare system.Read moreRead less
Improving productivity: theory and application to Australian hospitals. This project aims to improve existing methods for analysing productivity and efficiency of organisations. The new methods will be applied to Australian hospitals, to analyse their productivity and efficiency, identify the best-practices and their determinants and recommend improvements and necessary reforms. The high level of healthcare costs in Australia, about 5 percent of gross domestic product, as well as their rapid and ....Improving productivity: theory and application to Australian hospitals. This project aims to improve existing methods for analysing productivity and efficiency of organisations. The new methods will be applied to Australian hospitals, to analyse their productivity and efficiency, identify the best-practices and their determinants and recommend improvements and necessary reforms. The high level of healthcare costs in Australia, about 5 percent of gross domestic product, as well as their rapid and accelerating growth, imply that application of methods developed through this project may save billions of dollars and, more importantly, thousands of lives. An expected outcome of this project will be superior theoretical and practical methods for analysing productivity and efficiency of economic systems, to enhance understanding of the potential for improvements and of the necessary reforms.Read moreRead less
Improving Government Policy Making and Needs-Based Delivery of Services: Innovative Techniques to Enhance Administrative Data by Adding Socioeconomic Status. This project will create major national benefits by illuminating whether there are significant differences in access to or usage of such key government services as health and education by socio-economic status. Currently, most departments do not fully exploit their administrative data to answer such questions, because of the difficulty of ....Improving Government Policy Making and Needs-Based Delivery of Services: Innovative Techniques to Enhance Administrative Data by Adding Socioeconomic Status. This project will create major national benefits by illuminating whether there are significant differences in access to or usage of such key government services as health and education by socio-economic status. Currently, most departments do not fully exploit their administrative data to answer such questions, because of the difficulty of identifying the socio-economic status of users. This project will help Australia in its on-going but recently intensified efforts to make better use of its administrative data, resulting in a more efficient use of our data resources; better targeting of scare government resources; and improved identification of those in greatest need. Read moreRead less
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
Chronic Disease Prevention and Treatment - Cost-Benefit Model Systems to Assist with Priority Setting. The key benefit of the proposal to develop linked chronic disease models that are able to account for comorbidities will be that a much more accurate picture of the health and financial implications of chronic diseases will be obtainable than with the traditional 'disease-by-disease' based studies. Such a global approach is particularly relevant to analysis of chronic disease prevention and/or ....Chronic Disease Prevention and Treatment - Cost-Benefit Model Systems to Assist with Priority Setting. The key benefit of the proposal to develop linked chronic disease models that are able to account for comorbidities will be that a much more accurate picture of the health and financial implications of chronic diseases will be obtainable than with the traditional 'disease-by-disease' based studies. Such a global approach is particularly relevant to analysis of chronic disease prevention and/or treatment, because the lifestyle related risk factors are common to many such diseases. Overall, the linked models will be able to improve on current decision making processes, providing a more complete view of chronic disease costs and benefits - either today, or in future - under different prevention or treatment scenarios.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