New GP-led allied health treatment for veterans and their families

More details have emerged about a new approach in which GPs will be able to refer Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) card holders to allied health professionals if clinically required, in a bid to improve communication and health outcomes.
 
The allied health professional will develop a treatment plan. At the end of each cycle, the provider will send a report back to the GP, who can then assess whether further allied health treatment is clinically required.
 
In a letter sent to the RACGP, the DVA notes that the measure ‘aims to strengthen the quality of care for [DVA] card holders by increasing general practitioner engagement in allied health delivery’.
 
A DVA consultation between peak medical and allied health groups in August agreed that the treatment cycle would be a positive development by ‘supporting the whole healthcare team to regularly review patients to ensure treatment is appropriate’, according to a DVA summary.
 
‘The meeting noted it is even more important for clients with a chronic health condition to have ongoing contact with their GP,’ the summary notes state. 
 
DVA card holders will be able to access as many treatment cycles as they require. Each cycle will be for 12 visits or a year, depending on which comes first.
 
The new approach will come into effect from July 2019.
 
The move will affect Australia’s 140,000 DVA cardholders, and was first outlined in this year’s Federal Budget.
 
The RACGP will attend a DVA workshop on the design of the treatment cycle in March 2019.

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