Assessing Performance in Health Care Using International Surveys: Are Patient and Clinician Perspectives Complementary or Substitutive.

Background: Over the last decade, international surveys of patients and clinicians have been used to compare health care across countries. Findings from these surveys have been extensively used to create aggregate scores and rankings.

Objective: To assess the concordance of survey responses provided by patients and clinicians.

Disparities in experiences of emergency department care for people with a mental health condition.

Background: The aim of this study was to explore differences in experiences of care in Emergency Departments (EDs) for people with and without mental health conditions.

Methods: Secondary analyses of a survey of 15,995 patients from 82 EDs in New South Wales, Australia was conducted focusing on the most positive responses for 53 questions across nine dimensions of experiences. Logistic regression was used to compare experiences between people with and without a self-reported mental health condition, regardless of the reason for presentation.

Out-of-pocket expenditure on health care by Australian mothers: Lessons for maternal universal health coverage from a long-established system.

Background: Designing effective universal health care systems has challenges, including the use of patient co-payments and the role of the public and private systems. This study sought to quantify the total amount of out-of-pocket fees incurred by women who gave birth in private and public hospitals within Australia-a country with universal health coverage-and assess the impact that variation in birth type has on out-of-pocket fees.

Methods: Data came from a linked administrative data set of all women who gave birth in the Australian state Queensland between July 1, 2012, and June 30, 2015, plus their resultant children.

Factors associated with successful chronic disease treatment plans for older Australians: Implications for rural and Indigenous Australians.

Objective: To identify factors associated with having a successful treatment plan for managing chronic conditions.

Design: Secondary analysis of the Commonwealth Fund's 2014 International Health Policy Survey.

Setting: Australia 2014.

Who experiences unmet need for mental health services and what other barriers to accessing health care do they face? Findings from Australia and Canada.

Purpose: To examine factors associated with unmet need for mental health services and links with barriers to access to care more broadly.

Methodology: The Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy Surveys from 2013 and 2016 were used to explore factors associated with unmet need for adults who experienced emotional distress for 1320 respondents in Australia and 2284 in Canada.

Findings: Over one in five adults in Australia (21%) and in Canada (25%) experienced emotional distress, just over half said they received professional help (51% in Australia, 59% in Canada).

International comparisons of disparities in access to care for people with mental health conditions.

Objective: Relatively little is known about experiences of barriers in access to overall care for people with mental health conditions (MHCs), or disparities between people with and without MHCs, or how patterns vary across countries.

Data And Method: The 2016 Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy Survey of adults was used to compare access barriers for people with MHCs across 11 countries, and disparities within countries between people with and without an MHC, using normalized scores. Disparities were also assessed by using multivariable models adjusting for age, sex, immigrant status, income, and self-rated health.

Variations in out-of-pocket costs for primary care services across Australia: a regional analysis.

The aim of this study is to describe average out-of-pocket costs across different regions of Australia, as defined by Primary Health Network (PHN) boundaries, and assess the association between population characteristics and out-of-pocket costs for selected primary care services. A combination of descriptive and regression analysis was undertaken using administrative data from the Australian Department of Human Services reporting on the health services used across PHNs in Australia. Those in regional areas paid significantly more for Allied Health services than those in capital cities (A$5.

Out-of-pocket healthcare expenditure and chronic disease - do Australians forgo care because of the cost?

Although we do know that out-of-pocket healthcare expenditure is relatively high in Australia, little is known about what health conditions are associated with the highest out-of-pocket expenditure, and whether the cost of healthcare acts as a barrier to care for people with different chronic conditions. Cross-sectional analysis using linear and logistic regression models applied to the Commonwealth Fund international health policy survey of adults aged 18 years and over was conducted in 2013. Adults with asthma, emphysema and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) had 109% higher household out-of-pocket healthcare expenditure than did those with no health condition (95% CI: 50-193%); and adults with depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions had 95% higher household out-of-pocket expenditure (95% CI: 33-187%).

Barriers to accessing primary health care: comparing Australian experiences internationally.

Most highly developed economies have embarked on a process of primary health care (PHC) transformation. To provide evidence on how nations vary in terms of accessing PHC, the aim of this study is to describe the extent to which barriers to access were experienced by adults in Australia compared with other countries. Communities participating in an international research project on PHC access interventions were engaged to prioritise questions from the 2013 Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy Survey within a framework that conceptualises access across dimensions of approachability, acceptability, availability, affordability and appropriateness.

Publicly financed healthcare and income inequality in Canada.

Income inequality is currently the focus of considerable public and policy attention. Public services such as healthcare and education play a role in reducing income inequality in the population. This study looks at how healthcare affects the distribution of income across five income groups.