Crawford School of Public Policy

On this episode of Policy Forum Pod, we discuss how ‘low-value’ health care is causing harm to patients and what policymakers can do to address it.

How can policymakers and health professionals reduce ‘low-value care’, improve outcomes for patients, and address the health system’s carbon footprint? What is the impact of waste and inefficiency on the wellbeing of healthcare workers? And how can the policy debate be reframed so that patients – and meaningful relationships – are at the centre of health care? On this episode of Policy Forum Pod, Professor Rachelle Buchbinder AO from Monash University and Kylie Woolcock, Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association, join Dr Arnagretta Hunter to discuss low-value care and transforming the health system. Listen here.

Rachelle Buchbinder AO is a rheumatologist, a clinical epidemiologist, and Professor in the Monash University Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine.

Kylie Woolcock is Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association, Australia’s national peak body for public and not-for-profit hospitals and healthcare providers.

Arnagretta Hunter is the Human Futures Fellow at ANU College of Health and Medicine, a cardiologist, physician, and a Senior Clinical Lecturer at ANU Medical School.

Show notes | The following were mentioned during this episode:

Choosing Wisely Australia

Hippocrasy: How Doctors Are Betraying Their Oath by Ian Harris and Rachelle Buchbinder, NewSouth Books (2021)

‘Low-value care in Australian public hospitals: prevalence and trends over time’ by Tim Badgery-Parker et al, BMJ Quality & Safety (2018)

‘Value-based healthcare’, Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association

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