Editorial Published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine explores recent CHP research

M. Reed’s editorial ‘Reducing Out-of-Pocket Costs to Coordinate Prescription Medication Benefit Design with Chronic Disease Outreach and Clinical Care’ in the Journal of General Internal Medicine explored the findings presented by A/Prof Amal Trivedi (Brown University) and Prof Margaret Kelaher in their recent paper 'Hospitalizations for Chronic Conditions Among Indigenous Australians After Medication Copayment Reduction: the Closing the Gap Copayment Incentive' published in the International Journal of Epidemiology.

The editorial presents some key findings from their collaborative venture:

Trivedi et al. report on a natural experiment of a medication copayment reduction program implemented for indigenous Australian patients with, or at risk for, a chronic disease. The copayment reduction was part of a multi-dimensional policy change that introduced a package of chronic disease-related programs linking outpatient medical care and outreach programs to support self-management. This study is unique in targeting cost relief toward a patient population with a history of disparities in the treatment and outcomes of chronic conditions. The authors find that the chronic disease programs were associated with declines in hospitalizations for chronic conditions among indigenous Australians living in geographic areas with high uptake of the program, which led to a narrowing of the gap in hospitalization rates between the eligible indigenous and ineligible non-indigenous populations.

The editorial is available online. Read more about the original article here.