Healthy Ageing
Healthy Ageing Quality Improvement Collaborative
The HAQI Collaborative is within the scope of our work, which has commenced through the Aged Care Program. The aim of this project is to support older adults to live at home for longer through the commissioning of Early Intervention Initiatives that promote healthy ageing, slow decline, and support the ongoing management of chronic conditions.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare studies say potentially preventable hospitalisations are a measure of primary care effectiveness. Patients diagnosed with chronic conditions, such as dementia and frailty, are at higher risk of preventable hospital presentations and early entry into residential aged care homes.
We engaged Dr Paresh Dawda from Prestantia Health and an Expert Reference Panel consisting of primary care and allied health professionals to determine the program's measures.
Mission of the HAQI Collaborative:
The overall mission of the HAQI Collaborative is to foster a process of developing and maintaining the functional ability that enables wellbeing in older age. In practice, this means:
- Improving the management of older patients living with a long-term health condition
- Improving the quality of life for older patients participating in the program
- Maintaining and/or improving the function of daily living to remain at home for longer
- Reducing potentially preventable hospitalisations, e.g. falls
- Reduce polypharmacy and increase health literacy to assist older people in better managing their own medications
- Promoting access to non-clinical community services available if appropriate for the patient.
General Practice Healthy Ageing QI
Healthy Ageing QI supports general practice in improving the management of patients with chronic conditions by implementing important preventative care measures to minimise their risk of hospitalisation. Patients are encouraged to be equal partners with their care team to manage their chronic condition medications better and avoid preventable hospitalisation.
Benefits to your practice
- Participation and outcome payments for the practice (up to $10,000 excluding GST)
- Increased awareness of chronic disease support for your patients
- Contributes to QI requirements for both accreditation and PIPQI
Eligibility
During the Preparation Phase of the program, practices recruit and maintain a register of at least 20 eligible patients to participate in the program. Patients eligible for the program need to:
- be older patients (65 years or over and 55 years or over for Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander people),
- have one or more chronic conditions,
- be likely to benefit from participation in the program to reduce their risk of hospitalisation.
Measures
Once the registration of patients is established in the Preparation Phase, practices enter the Implementation Phase of the program and complete the measures for each enrolled patient over the 12 months of the program.
5M’s Framework
Practices participating in the Collaborative will engage with other general practices through peer-to-peer learning, leading healthy ageing clinicians and quality improvement experts to apply the 5M Framework to support improved management of older persons’ health.
The 5M framework is a simple, powerful and evidence-based framework that measures outcomes based on what Matters to the patient, Medication, Mobility, Mentation and Malnutrition.
For more information, contact Hayden Welsh, Program Officer - Healthy Ageing during business hours on 4708 8108 or by email.
