Fellowship honours the work of Medicare co-creator

The Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association (AHHA) has awarded the inaugural Deeble Institute Fellowship to Professor Henry Cutler, Director, Macquarie University Centre for the Health Economy (MUCHE).

Named in honour of Professor John Deeble AO (1931–2018), health economist, co-architect of Medicare, founding director of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, and namesake of the Deeble Institute for Health Policy Research (AHHA), the Fellowship is awarded to an outstanding mid-career researcher with a background in health economics, whose research commitment reflects Professor Deeble’s legacy of universal health care through affordable, quality health care for all.

“Professor Cutler is a worthy recipient of the Deeble Institute Fellowship 2022, recognising his commitment to health economics, social policy and improvement of the Australian healthcare system,” Acting Chief Executive AHHA Kylie Woolcock said.

Professor Cutler is a well-respected health economics expert and has led several high-profile projects relating to value-based care and healthcare financing including work with the Aged Care Financing Authority (ACFA), the National Mental Health Commission, the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Department of Health and Ageing, said AHHA in a statement.

During his Fellowship, Professor Cutler will examine the shifts in financial risks associated with advancing value-based health care in Australia.

“Alternate funding models are often seen as the key to advancing value-based care, but the shifts in financial risk that this can involve are often not holistically acknowledged or well understood,” Woolcock said.

“It is critical that investments are made to enable data-driven improvements in the health outcomes of Australians, but targeted work is required to understand how and at what levels within our system we use funding models to best incentivise such improvements.

“Changes to funding models must consider the impact on each service within a person’s full care pathway, not services in isolation.”

How our health system manages the shifts in accountability and risk associated with value-based health care will be central to driving better quality care and lower health costs, according to AHHA.

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