A Comparative Policy Analysis of Health and Social Care Integration in Australia

This study aims to identify the emergence and key features of concepts of 'integrated care' and its extension to 'social care' in Australian health policy. Poor social outcomes and poor health outcomes are linked, and we understand that as social determinants of health improve for patients, so does their health. Efforts to integrated health and social care in Australia have largely been limited to local models and innovator sites and a system wide framework has not been developed in Australia. Currently there is little understanding regarding integrated health and social care policies Australia wide. Similarly, there is a lack of comparative evidence on how the Australia model is positioned when compared to international models of integrated health and social care.

The purpose of this presentation is to outline the early findings from the initial stages which include a mixed approach including an Australian context review of relevant research and publicly available policy, funding, and framework documents to better understand the context in Australia. Teamed with a comparative analysis of countries with the most advanced models of health and social care integration and a case study review of established national and international models of health and social care integration and learnings from these. 

The IFIC Australia Conference creates an opportunity to outline the intentions of the study and the early findings. It is also designed to set the context for the rest of the study and potentially generate some interest in this work for the next stages of the research. Ideally targeted at policy makers, senior executive and managers, and opinion leaders alike, who influence policy across health and social care sectors in Australia, but also relevant to those that work across health and social services, as well as consumers who should remain at the heart of all research aimed at creating more patient centred models of care. Relevance to an international audience as well as local audience because the themes of integrated health and social care are highly topical on the world stage.

The intended impact of this research is to help create some broader understanding of the importance of health and social care as a priority for integration and create a better understanding of where Australia currently sits in relation to the advancement of policy in health and social care integration nationally and on the global stage. It is important to also understand how Australia compares to other countries in the efforts to integrate health and social care so international learnings will be shared as a part of this presentation to help create a broader awareness of the maturity of our policies in Australia and to create a sense of urgency of the progress of health and social care in Australia.

This PhD thesis project is part of the work of the Centre of Research Excellence of Integrated and Social Care, the Menzies Centre for Health Policy and Economics, University of Sydney, and the Central Coast Research Institute for Integrated Care.