Aim

To improve the management of health resources and the quality of primary health care provided to the Australian community.

Why are we here, where have we come from?

Over two years ago a number of Divisions of General Practice met to review their experience in a program called the Enhanced Divisional Quality Use of Medicine (EDQUM) program. This meeting was informed by information gleaned from similar successful programs that were operating in New Zealand and in other countries.  The EDQUM program is a non-resourced program of the Department of Health and Ageing which aims to improve quality prescribing practices which will ultimately lead to better patient care.  EDQUM is a current budget initiative that measures any savings in the PBS, half of which are shared with the participating Divisions to reinvest in Community primary health care programs.

The group agreed that while there were significant problems with the EDQUM program, the concept of working with GPs in the area of quality pharmaceutical and care management offered many positive opportunities to improve resource utilization and implement the latest in evidence based medicine.  The major problems identified with EDQUM at the time were the very low level of investment, poor utilization of any resources that are available, lack of a coordinated cross divisional approach and timely and accurate data and information that would allow GPs to have access to all the information that they need to have better control of resource utilization.  The Divisions then agreed to work together to develop a new program that would constructively address the above issues.

AGPN acknowledges the financial support of the Australian Government Department of Health & Ageing