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Levers for effecting disinvestment decisions will be the subject of a talk by Adam Elshaug, HCF Research Foundation Principal Research Fellow, Menzies Centre for Health Policy, The University of Sydney at the 2nd annual Health Technology Assessment conference. The event will be held on the 5th and 6th December in Sydney.
Effecting disinvestment recommendations is challenging, particularly given that many ‘low-value’ services are so only for a proportion of the population to whom they are applied. How groups have gone about reducing inappropriate over-use while maintaining (or increasing) appropriate use varies. Policy and clinical context plays a role. For example NICE in the UK relies heavily on guideline development and purchasing recommendations. Reforms in the US have seen a surge in ‘value-based insurance design’, bundling and other global payment initiatives. In fee-for-service systems such as Australia’s Medicare and in Canada, scope exists for a host of manoeuvres including, at one end, the blunt removal of item numbers to, at the other end, more refined descriptors and restrictions being placed on items. Blended approaches are also gaining attention. Adam will discuss scope of these with examples, including their pros and cons.
Associate Professor Adam Elshaug is an internationally recognized researcher and policy advisor with expertise in reducing waste and optimizing value in health care. He was a 2010-11 Commonwealth Fund Harkness Fellow based at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) in Washington DC. From mid-2011 to mid-2013 he then served as NHMRC Sidney Sax Public Health Fellow in the Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, Boston. In parallel, Adam became The Commonwealth Fund’s Inaugural Visiting Fellow for 2012-13 in New York City.
In addition to a strong program of primary research, he works closely with government, including Medicare Australia, and third-party payers in health care to design and implement reforms aimed at optimizing heath care safety and value.
Associate Professor Elshaug is recipient of numerous research awards and over 80 invitations to address conferences, government, academic, insurance and health technology assessment groups internationally.
For more information about the 2nd annual Health Technology Assessment conference and to register, please visit the conference website.