GP MANAGEMENT PLANS / TEAM CARE ARRANGEMENTS

If you need assistance managing your chronic health conditions or are on ORT you should talk to your doctor about a GP Management Plans (GPMP); and Team Care Arrangements (TCAs). A chronic medical condition is one that has been (or is likely to be) present for six months or longer, for example, asthma, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, stroke, and many others. Should you suffer from one or more of these or be on ORT you may be eligible and benefit from a GPMP and TCA. The idea is to help health care providers and allied health professionals plan and coordinate the care of people with chronic conditions, to improve outcomes and reduce the need for multiple unscheduled consultations or unnecessary hospitalisations.   

A GP management plan (GPMP) helps record comprehensive, accurate and up-to-date information about a patient's condition and treatment to help encourage the patient to take responsibility for their care. This is vital in the management of chronic medical conditions.

Patients can better understand their condition and how to manage it 

As many GPs know, when patients have a better understanding of their condition, it can greatly improve their health outcomes. Patients armed with more information and support about their condition often feel empowered to help manage their treatment. Care plans do this by ensuring the patient is involved in the development of the plan, agrees to the plan, and receives a copy of the plan. All this empowers the patient with understanding and maps out their next best actions to take. 

Supporting better coordinated care 

Care plans also allow for better coordination of practitioners and certain allied health services treating patients. While GPMPs cover single GP care plans, Team Care Arrangements (TCA) are also available when other health care providers and multidisciplinary teams are needed to manage a condition. Care plans set out treatments, appointments, describe the patient's healthcare needs, health problems and relevant conditions. They also include management goals and actions for the patient, ongoing treatment and services the patient will need, arrangements for providing the treatment and services, and arrangements to review the plan every three months. This is far more structured and allows for better planning than the ad hoc approach of a patient turning up at a hospital or medical centre when their conditions worsens.