Health
4 February 2018
All complications should count: Using our data to make hospitals safer
One in nine patients who go into hospital suffers a complication, and the risk varies dramatically depending on the hospital. An extra 250,000 patients would leave hospital complication-free each year if all hospitals lifted their performance to match the best 10 per cent of hospitals.
7 November 2017
Strengthening safety statistics: How to make hospital safety data more useful
Australia needs to reform the way we collect and use information about patient safety, to reduce the risk of more tragedies in our hospitals. The system is awash with data, but the information is poorly collated, not shared with patients, and often not given to doctors.
1 May 2017
Building better foundations for primary care
Simple reforms to Australia’s health system could help save more than $320 million a year on avoidable hospital admissions and provide better care for people with diabetes, asthma, heart disease and other chronic conditions.
5 March 2017
Cutting a better drug deal
Australians pay more than $500 million a year too much for their prescription drugs. Taxpayers and patients would pay less if the Federal Government made simple changes to the way prices are set under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
22 November 2016
A sugary drinks tax: recovering the community costs of obesity
Australia should introduce a tax on sugary drinks to help tackle obesity and recoup some of the $5.3 billion a year the epidemic costs taxpayers.
24 July 2016
Perils of place: identifying hotspots of health inequality
Australia’s health system is consistently failing some parts of the country. It’s time for a new, targeted approach.
14 June 2016
Orange Book 2016: priorities for the next Commonwealth Government
Australia faces many domestic policy challenges as the election looms. Yet a survey of seven years of Grattan Institute reports and policy proposals shows that a government prepared to forcefully articulate the public interest could win public support for a brave and powerful reform agenda.
6 March 2016
Chronic failure in primary care
The Government spends more than $1 billion every year to encourage better prevention and management of chronic disease, but our health system is still failing patients. The way we fund and organise primary care needs to change.
22 February 2016
Blood Money: paying for pathology services
Taxpayers spend more than $2.5 billion a year on pathology services, but they’re not getting a good deal. Changing the way government pays for testing would save money without cutting services to the sick.
16 August 2015
Questionable care: avoiding ineffective treatment
Clinicians and researchers have long known that some hospitals provide questionable treatments to some patients, but the right policy response has been unclear — until now.