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Stephen Duckett to chair cohealth inquiry
A three-person panel, led by the high-profile health economist, will review the community organisation’s service model and viability.
The findings of an independent review into the service model of cohealth will be handed down in February.
Health economist Professor Stephen Duckett has been named as chair of a panel convened to review the financially struggling community health group, cohealth.
It comes after cohealth’s announcement in October of plans to close three of its inner-Melbourne general practice services, citing failings in Medicare’s funding model to properly support the clinics.
The panel has been commissioned by the Federal and Victorian governments following an announcement last month that they would review the not-for-profit organisation’s general practice service model, governance and finances.
Announcing the panel and its terms of reference, the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing (DoHDA) said GP and researcher Professor John Furler, and community health leader and accountant Jane Seeber will join Professor Duckett on the panel.
The review will focus on the overall service model at cohealth’s general practices, including the clinical service model, operations, governance and financial viability, in the context of the overall operations of the organisation.
cohealth welcomed the review and said it is ‘an essential process to inform a sustainable future for the delivery of comprehensive healthcare’.
‘The review will assess the current GP-led complex care model delivered at these sites, which has been unsustainable and underfunded for many years,’ it said.
The organisation said it is ‘critical’ that the review be informed by the lived experience and needs of its clients.
‘In addition to communities having the opportunity to contribute independently to the review, cohealth will also seek the views of clients as part of its own submission to inform the opportunities for future models of care,’ it said.
cohealth Chief Executive Nicole Bartholomeusz said the voices of the organisation’s vulnerable clients ‘must guide the decisions about what a sustainable model of care should deliver’.
‘Our priority is ensuring that the thousands of vulnerable people who depend on complex, ongoing healthcare have continued access to services that are safe, connected and responsive,’ she said.
‘Fundamentally, these services need to be sustainable so that care for our communities is enduring.’
The DoHDA said the intended outcome of the review is the ‘development of options that support the continuation of these services to the community’.
Last month, Federal Health and Ageing Minister Mark Butler announced funding of up to $1.5 million to avert the closures of the cohealth clinics in Fitzroy, Collingwood and Kensington, with all three now open until 31 July 2026.
The panel is expected to deliver its findings by 28 February 2026.
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