Uptake of health assessments, care plans and case conferences by general practitioners through the Enhanced Primary Care program between November 1999 and October 2001

Abstract

We aimed to describe the uptake of the Enhanced Primary Care (EPC) item numbers listed on the Medicare Benefits Schedule for health assessment (HA), care plan (CP) and case conference (CC) between November 1999 (when these items first became available) and October 2001. We used data provided by the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing. General practitioners rendered 371,409 EPC services in all. Most services were HA (225,353;61%), most of the remainder were CP (134,688;36%), and CC comprised the rest (11,368;3%). The number of HA done increased steadily and has stabilised at around 13,000 HA per month. Most CP done (80%) were in the community and with the GP preparing the plan. From a slow start, the number of CP done increased rapidly in 2001 to about 15,000 per month. There has been a slow and steady increase in the number of CC done each month, reaching 8-900 per month. Uptake of the EPC item numbers in the first two years of their availability has been rapid and has reached substantial levels, especially for HA and CP. The uptake of CC has been slower.