45 Year Health Check
On the 1st of November 2006, a new Medicare health check item was made available. The aim of this health check is to assist with the prevention of chronic disease and to enable early intervention strategies to be put in place where appropriate.
This 'once off' health check is available to people between 45 and 49 years of age (inclusive) who are at risk of developing a chronic disease. To determine patient eligibility, a specific risk factor must be identified. Factors that a GP may consider include, but are not limited to:
- lifestyle risk factors such as smoking, poor nutrition, physical inactivity or alcohol misuse.
- biomedical risk factors such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, impaired glucose metabolism or excess weight.
- a family history of chronic disease
The health check is comprised of 4 components:
- Information collection
- Assessment of the patient
- Interventions as indicated and
- Advice and information to the patient
The Lifescripts suite of resources are the perfect tools to support general practice to undertake this health check. The assessment tool can assist in determining patient eligibility, information collection and assessment. The Lifescripts 'scripts' can be utilised in the intervention and advice stage of the check.
For further information on the 45 year health check, including an item descriptor, fact sheet, Questions & Answers and a checklist designed to be a sample checklist to assist in undertaking the 45 year health check, see the Department of Health and Ageing web site
The Lifescripts Resource Library inlcudes further resources to support integration of Lifescripts into utilisation of the 45 year health check including:
The following resources are available on the RACGP web site:
- Presentation outlining the 45 year health check and the role of GPs and their teams
- Checklist - based on the Red Book, providing an evidence based summary of the key factors to be addressed
- Template letters to patients
- Patient practice prevention survey - taken from the Green Book
