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Community health
Page content: Overview | Philosophy | Budget | Governance | Eligibility | Fees
Overview
A significant component of state funded primary health care is provided by community health services. Community Health Services (CHSs) are agencies that receive Community Health Program funding from the Department of Health.
CHSs sit alongside general practice, privately funded services and other health and support services to make up the primary heath sector in Victoria. State-funded primary health care predominantly refers to dental, allied health, counselling, nursing services and health promotion.
Philosophy
CHSs are a platform for the delivery of comprehensive primary health care. They operate from a social model of health and acknowledge the social, environmental and economic factors that affect health, as well as the biological and medical factors.
CHSs are active participants in and contributors to their local communities. This strong community connection enables CHSs to develop flexible models of care that are responsive to their local communities and reflect actions to address the determinants of health.
Budget
The Department of Health’s Community Health Program funds approximately 25% of the services provided by registered CHSs.
The budget for direct care services (counselling, allied health, nursing) is approximately $120 milllion and for health promotion is approximately $35 million.
Other major sources of Department of Health funding to CHSs include Aged Care, Dental Health, Home and Community Care, Hospital Admission Risk Program, Mental Health and Post Acute Care.
Governance
Victorian CHSs operate under two distinct legal and governance arrangements:
- 62 CHSs operate as part of public health services
- 38 are independent registered community health centres (CHCs)
Independent services defined as Registered Community Health Centres are companies limited by guarantee and are registered under the Health Services Act 1988, to provide community health services see Governance.
The remaining community health services are provided from rural or metropolitan public hospitals and health services, which provide a range of services, from acute hospital services to primary and community health care. They are defined in the Health Services Act 1988 as Public Health Services.
Eligibility
CHSs are universal and aim to provide a broad range of services. Community Health Program activities, give priority to populations with particular health needs, This often includes disadvantaged populations with the poorest health and greatest economic and social needs.
The demand management framework for CHSs prioritises health services to the following population groups :
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
- people with an intellectual disability
- refugees and people seeking asylum
- homeless people and people at risk of homelessness
- people
- with a serious mental illness.
Fees
Fees are charged for services provided by CHSs in line with the:
Fees Policy for HACC and Primary Health Programs - January 2011
The fees policy provides a consistent framework within which service providers are to operate:
- Where fees are charged, it should be done in accordance with a scale of fees appropriate to the consumer’s level of income, amount of service
- Inability to pay cannot be used as a basis for refusing a service to people who are assessed as requiring a service.
