Health Reviews for People with Intellectual Disabilities - Victorian GPs Leading the Way
DHS July 08
The number of rebates for MBS items 718 & 719 has more than doubled in Victoria over the past six months.
Statistics from the Medicare website show that in April 2008:
- Victoria had the highest per capita rebates for these items in Australia
- 43% of all rebates for these items in Australia were from Victoria.
This graph shows the rise of the claims for annual health assessments for people with an intellectual disability in Victoria compared to NSW.
Above: number of Medicare item numbers 718 & 719 per capita (per 100 000 people) in NSW and Victoria from July 07 to April 08
Disability Services would like to acknowledge the important role of GPs and practice nurses in the health care of people with an intellectual disability, and encourage the continued increase in structured annual health assessments for people with an intellectual disability.
Research-based Tools to Assist with the Annual Health Assessment
- GPs in Victoria are likely to encounter the Comprehensive Health Assessment Program (CHAP) proforma when seeing patients with an intellectual disability living in Victorian Department of Human Services, Disability Services managed homes in the community for an annual health review.
- Disability support workers complete the first part of CHAP to provide the GP with relevant background information.
- The second part of CHAP provides GPs or practice nurses with research based prompts for specific areas to concentrate on in health assessments for people with an Intellectual Disability.
- The use of CHAP has been shown to significantly improve the health outcomes for people with an intellectual disability.
Further resources
Professional development and other resources to assist GPs are available from the Centre for Developmental Disability Health Victoria.
Forms, brochures, notes etc. about items 718 & 719
This article is available online at http://bddgp.org.au/article/2008/07/id-items
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