Advanced Health Service Planning 2020

1. Develop an understanding of ‘models of care’ by responding to the following short answer questions using reliable evidence to support your responses: o What are models of care?  o Why are models of care important in health service planning? o How specific are models of care in the health sector in terms of population groups, settings, a health problem, workforce, type of care? Identify and describe an example of a published model of care for each of these domains and briefly explain the model used in each and their benefits for the health system and patients.

Part 2: Comparative Analysis of Models of Care (1750 words)
Context

The large Local Health District (LHD) covers a region of over 1 million people with two age groups predominating, i.e. under 25 years and over 60 years.  There are high rates of chronic illness and risky health behaviours across the district, and few high socioeconomic geographic areas.
The health services currently provided across the District include population health programs and services; ambulatory, primary health care and community services; hospital inpatient and outpatient services, and allied, imaging and pathology services, among others. Facilities include three public hospitals and a range of outpatient and community health services, as well as over 40 private general medical practices. Other facilities located in the region include a number of private allied and surgical health care facilities and a Primary Health Network. There is a growing number of private residential aged care facilities.
Care coordination across facilities and service providers is virtually non-existent but there are some informal networks across acute and primary health care, and acute and residential aged care. There are no public-private hospital partnerships or collaborative care arrangements. Health and social sector integration programs are few and time-limited, and tightly focused to funding contract requirements.
Task

o Undertake a comparative analysis of health integration models that are relevant for the context provided above. o Provide reasoned arguments supported by reliable evidence for selecting your preferred models i.e. identify the planning assumptions and rationale behind your decisions by comparing and/or contrasting your preferred model/s with other models of integrated care and service provision.

Notes

o Students may wish to focus their investigation for Part 1 and/or use some of the evidence findings from Part 1, for Part 2 of this assessment.  o Students may wish to focus on one or a number of population groups and/or service specialty types to respond to this assignment. o Students can consider one or some of the following health integration model types: healthsocial care and/or support models; clinical care integration models; acute-primary care integration models; acute-residential aged care models and others identified by the student (please check with the lecturer before commencing). o Fully contextualise your response in relation to the health district context given above.

Assignment structure and content
• This assignment requires a report format with subheadings. The major subheadings are Part 1 and Part 2.  • Respond to Part 1 by fully answering the questions provided. • Begin Part 2 with 1-2 sentences that clearly define health integration and its importance, making reference to the fact that the assessment requires a focus on the LHD described in the assessment guidelines (note: the full written LHD context description provided on page 1 of this guideline is not to be provided in the assignment response). Then identify your particular focus area/s e.g. population group/s and/or service specialty types, and health integration model types (see notes over page). • Develop your response by fully contextualising it in relation to the health district context given on page 1.