Rebate for Adolescent Health Checks (RAd Health Trial)
RAd health is a randomised controlled trial led by the University of Melbourne Department of General Practice in collaboration with the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health. The trial aims to determine whether a Medicare rebate payment for a young person’s health check (age 14-24 years), similar to that available for a 75+ health check, will increase young people’s preventive care. Young people’s health assessments have been found to improve the health outcomes of young people. Many general practitioners (GPs) and nurses want to provide these health checks, but lack of consultation time is a considerable barrier.
General practices will be randomly allocated to either an intervention or control group.
- Intervention group: will receive a rebate payment at the same rate as MBS items 701, 703, 705 & 707, depending on duration of consultation, for each health check done with a 14 to 24 year old patient. Up to one rebate payment per patient per year can be claimed.
- Control group: no rebate payment will be received. GPs will be encouraged to continue with their usual practice with 14 to 24 year old patients.
What will all general practices be required to do?
- Participate in an initial briefing to discuss the trial and assess eligibility to participate
- Sign a Clinic Participant consent agreement
- Practice principal to agree to provide de-identified patient data extracted using our data extraction tool GRHANITE®
- Nominate a clinic contact person to liaise with research team and a staff member to assist with administration and coordination of study
- GPs will be required to undertake a 1-2 hour online clinical induction about conducting young people’s health assessments. Nurses will also have access to this package to assist with health checks where appropriate.
- Use the young person assessment tool (which will be embedded in the electronic medical record) in clinicalsituations
- GPs will undertake 2x 30-minute surveys – at baseline and completion of study. Optional telephone interviews will be conducted after 6 & 18 months
- Six months after clinic recruitment, a research officer will attend your clinic for a period of four weeks to recruit approximately 25 young people from your clinic as part of the trial. We will work with you to implement a process that best suits your practice.
- Study duration is three years from 2023-2025
What does the practice get to support participation in RAd Health?
- $1800 honorarium for the practice
- Research-involved practitioners can become part of VicREN and Honorary DGP academics, with free access to library, and therapeutic guidelines online
- GPs can apply for self-directed learning CPD points for undertaking the induction
- General Practices meet criterion 6 of 5th edition RACGP Accreditation standards when they participate in research
Benefits to Patients:
- A patient-centred hub for preventive care for young people in their regular GP Practice
- Improved engagement and management of young people
- Better prevention of the consequences of risk-taking behaviours and mental health issues
- Access to general practitioners and nurses with expertise in preventive care for young people
Eligibility
- Registered Victorian general practice
- Atleast 600 young persons aged 14-24 years consulting the practice per annum
- General Practice uses Windows 10 operating system with Edge, Chrome of Firefox on all computers
- Best Practice (BP) or Medical Director (MD – not cloud based Helix version) and does NOT share a server with another practice
Funding
National Health and Medical Research Council APP1184842
University of Melbourne Research Lead
Professor Jane Hocking
Other Investigators
Prof Lena Sanci, Prof Susan Sawyer, Dr Jemimah Ride, A Prof Patty Chondros, Prof Meredith Temple Smith, ProfRachel Skinner, Prof George Patton, A Prof Megan Lim, Prof Jane Pirkis, Dr Caroline Johnson, Prof Dougie Boyle, A/Professor Grant Blashki, Prof Rebecca Guy, A/Prof Kim Dalziel
Research team: Dr Cathy Watson, Ms Sara Newton, Ms Amelia Wardley
Ethics
Approved by Melbourne University Ethics Committee Reference Number: 2022-23435-28326-2
Contact details:
Project manager Cathy Watson, Research officers Amelia Wardley & Sara Newton
Phone: 03 8344 5141 or email: rad-health@unimelb.edu.au