Is Better Access working for Australian's with mental health issues? (6/9/10)
MEDIA RELEASE
6 September 2010
Is Better Access working for Australian's with mental health issues?
In one of the first formal examinations Better Access - an initiative introduced in 2006 under the Medicare Benefits Schedule - both psychologists and their clients are reporting positive experiences.
In late 2006, the Australian Government introduced a set of mental health reforms known as Better Access. The initiative was introduced in response to low treatment rates for common mental disorders and was designed to improve the outcomes for people with such disorders by encouraging a multi-disciplinary approach to their mental health care.
However, the move was widely scrutinised by a range of observers whose views were often polarised. Some have interpreted its rapid uptake as evidence that it is meeting considerable previously-unmet need, while others argue that unexpectedly high costs reflect that many of the recipients of care under the new scheme were already receiving – and paying for – psychological treatment.
With financial support from Australian Rotary Health, one of Australia’s largest mental health charities, Professor Jane Pirkis, Director of the School of Population Health at the University of Melbourne, recently completed a study titled ‘An evaluation of the new Medicare Benefits Schedule psychologist item numbers: Impacts for psychologists and their patients’.
According to Prof Pirkis, Better Access is showing positive results for both psychologists and their clients.
“Psychologists and their clients described very positive experiences with Better Access,” she said. “Psychologists appreciated the greater security of income and greater variety of work afforded by the initiative, while clients were sanguine about the fact that they can now access psychological care which may previously have been unavailable to them and appreciated the fact that this care had resulted in improvements to their health and wellbeing."
The study showed that 77% of surveyed psychologists believed the introduction of the Medicare scheme had positive impacts for them, with 85% of surveyed clients reporting a range of positive effects on their health and wellbeing as a consequence of receiving treatment.
Not only did the scheme provide psychologists with an increased caseload, but the majority surveyed reported an increase in clients who were disadvantaged, on a lower income, and male. A number of psychologists also reported that the Better Access scheme was reducing financial strain on clients which then allowed them to attend more sessions without subsequent hardship.
“The most commonly reported positive impact was increased access to psychological services for people experiencing financial barriers such as low incomes or other financial strains,” explains Prof Pirkis. “Eight per cent reported that this increased accessibility had resulted in a reduced stigma to clients, while others noted that clients utilising Better Access were more likely to follow through and be more motivated, and were also attending sooner.”
The study also found that a high number of clients were utilising the scheme due to the relief from financial pressures. “73% of surveyed clients implicitly or explicitly indicated that they might have previously received care from a psychologist had they been more readily able to access psychologists’’ services,” said Prof Pirkis. “Even those who had access care previously noted that cost had been a barrier.”
The findings of this Australian-first study will be used to help shape policy around the future directions of the Better Access initiative.
For more information please contact:
Verity Twydale
Media & Communications Officer
Phone: 02 8837 1900
Email: veritytwydale@australianrotaryhealth.org.au