The National Rural Health Alliance (the Alliance) provided feedback to the Productivity Commission’s inquiry into Delivering Quality Care More Efficiently. The care economy plays a vital role in the daily lives of people living and working in rural, regional and remote Australia, where the health and wellbeing of communities are deeply influenced by the accessibility, integration and quality of local care services. However, longstanding systemic challenges – including workforce shortages, geographic isolation, limited infrastructure and fragmented service delivery – mean that delivering care efficiently in these areas is not simply a matter of doing more with less, but requires reform that is locally responsive, equity focused and sustainable.
This submission offers a rural lens on the following proposed reform areas which will support the nation’s productivity:
- Embed collaborative commissioning to increase the integration of care services, and
- A national framework to support government investment in prevention.