CHIEF EXECUTIVE UPDATE
“People with chronic disease, experiencing homelessness or sudden income loss, or who are living in remote communities are all at greater risk, not only of COVID-19, but also potentially of poorer long-term health as their living circumstances deteriorate as a result of economic downturn.”
down the silos between departments of health, and community and social services. We should also be sharing good data and evidence across these three areas and looking for smart ways to achieve better health outcomes and address health disparities. We also recommended that service design efforts include codesign and patient engagement strategies to promote both value and equity. And finally we suggested that effort must be focused not only on health services as they are currently delivered, but also on emerging treatments and therapies, to ensure that the
THE HEALTH ADVOCATE GOES QUARTERLY From May 2020 our member e-magazine, The Health Advocate, will be published quarterly instead of every 2 months.
benefits of innovation and research investment are
Issues will now be published in
realised across the population, not just by those
February, May, August and
who can afford to pay for these. Otherwise there
November each year.
is a significant risk that Australia’s universal health
The current e-pub format will be
system, which already demonstrates levels of inequity, will be further eroded. These are tough times and there are a lot of pressing issues out there. But in the end equity in healthcare is not just about better health for Australians—it’s about the kind of society we want.
ha
The Deeble Institute Issues Brief no. 34, Can value-based care support health equity? is available here.
retained, but there will be more pages, more multimedia content, and up to three topic themes for each issue. Readers will still be able to download and print The Health Advocate; occasionally we may produce professionally printed hard copies for promotional purposes.
The Health Advocate • MAY 2020
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