Preventive social health programmes: are they Australia's answer to rising health care costs in rural communities?

dc.contributor.authorHarvey, P.
dc.date.issued2001
dc.descriptionThe definitive version is available at www.blackwell-synergy.com
dc.description.abstractAlthough we have good evidence to support the notion that early intervention, prevention and community education programs can mitigate the impact of preventable disease, expanded primary health care is also being promoted by Australian governments as a panacea for reducing growth in demand generally. While preventive programs do reduce acute demand, they may not do so to the extent that resources, currently allocated to the acute sector, can be substituted to provide the additional primary care services necessary to reduce acute demand permanently. These developments have particular relevance for rural and isolated communities where access to acute services is already very limited. What appears to be occurring, in rural South Australia at least, is that traditional acute services are being reduced and replaced with lower level care and social intervention programs. This is well and good, but eventually the acute care being provided in rural health units now will still need to be provided by other units elsewhere and probably at much higher cost to the system and to consumers. Where rural communities have previously managed much of their own acute service demand, they may now be forced to send patients to more distant centres for care but at much greater social and economic cost to individuals and the system.
dc.description.statementofresponsibilityPeter Harvey
dc.identifier.citationAustralian Journal of Rural Health, 2001; 9(6):293-296
dc.identifier.doi10.1046/j.1038-5282.2001.00391.x
dc.identifier.issn1038-5282
dc.identifier.issn1440-1584
dc.identifier.orcidHarvey, P. [0000-0003-2983-663X]
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2440/42199
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherBlackwell Science Asia Pty Ltd
dc.source.urihttps://doi.org/10.1046/j.1038-5282.2001.00391.x
dc.subjectHumans
dc.subjectForecasting
dc.subjectCommunity Health Services
dc.subjectPreventive Health Services
dc.subjectRural Health Services
dc.subjectHealth Care Costs
dc.subjectHealth Services Needs and Demand
dc.subjectHealth Services Accessibility
dc.subjectQuality of Health Care
dc.subjectUnited States
dc.subjectAustralia
dc.titlePreventive social health programmes: are they Australia's answer to rising health care costs in rural communities?
dc.typeJournal article
pubs.publication-statusPublished

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