Managing chronic conditions care across primary care and hospital systems: lessons from an Australian Hospital Avoidance Risk Program using the Flinders Chronic Condition Management Program.

Objective The study aimed to determine the impact of the Flinders Chronic Condition Management Program for chronic condition self-management care planning and how to improve its use with Bendigo Health's Hospital Admission Risk Program (HARP). Methods A retrospective analysis of hospital admission data collected by Bendigo Health from July 2012 to September 2013 was undertaken. Length of stay during admission and total contacts post-discharge by hospital staff for 253 patients with 644 admissions were considered as outcome variables.

Influence of rurality on diagnosing dementia in Australian general practice.

This article reviews the literature concerning barriers in making a diagnosis of dementia in general practice and examines these from a rural perspective. It is proposed that the increasing prevalence of dementia in coming years in Australia will be felt most keenly in rural communities where there are already shortages of GPs and dementia-specific services to manage growing demand. Evidence suggests that dementia is often not specifically diagnosed by GPs and that this is a global issue.

Planning for transition care.

The Australian Government introduced the National Transition Care Program in the 2004-2005 Federal Budget. This program is designed to assist elderly patients who have completed a stay in hospital to move from the hospital to their homes or other suitable accommodation. In planning for transition care services, managers are faced with the question, "How many places should be allocated to transition care in our facility?" This case study offers an approach to this question based on queueing theory.