In April, nurse-turned-epidemiologist Michelle Dowsey published some little-noticed research that could help save the health system from itself.
The Melbourne University professor found a way to stop people from asking for knee replacements, which, along with hip replacements, consume more of the health budget than any other surgical procedure.In an experiment on 82 very overweight patients at St Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne, 29 per cent cancelled planned knee replacements after quickly losing weight. Their knees felt better – a result only surprising in that Dowsey doesn’t believe it has been established scientifically before.
Dowsey’s finding is part of the solution to Australia’s productivity problem, which is particularly acute in healthcare. The cost of medical and hospital services has tripled since 2000, according to the Bureau of Statistics, an increase so large it was singled out by the Productivity Commission last monthMedicine should be part of the national productivity conversation, which has been given renewed momentum by theExpensive healthcare makes Australians poorer.
One of the underlying causes is that the health system values pathology and surgery more than health advice, according to Nick Coatsworth, a former deputy chief medical officer and respiratory and infectious disease physician. “Any attempt to curtail that has been met by florid opposition from the medical profession,” he said this week. “Me sitting down and telling people why they don’t need tests or procedures is not valued by Medicare Benefits.”Coatsworth’s complaint isn’t unusual. Many doctors are critical of their peers for making money from pointless procedures. Two
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