Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services Compared in New Report

The Deeble Institute for Health Policy Research has published its latest evidence brief, The relative effectiveness of Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHS) compared with mainstream health service.
The brief examines the evidence on the effectiveness of Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services found in the academic literature, assesses its quality, and analyses the implications for policy makers. The Deeble Institute is the research arm of the Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association (AHHA).
“The research found that there is currently limited evidence in the academic literature on the relative effectiveness of ACCHS when compared with mainstream health services, so it is difficult to make categorical statements one way or the other,” said the AHHA’s Deeble Institute research team.
“A range of mostly small-scale studies have been conducted that indicate the services provided by ACCHS are valued by their Aboriginal clients and that they improve access to care and patient outcomes. Comparisons with mainstream services were difficult because services provided by ACCHS can be more comprehensive and the clients can have more complex health issues.
“Because more data is needed to enable evidence-informed policy decisions, it is recommended that policy makers further investigate the factors that influence Aboriginal people’s preferences when selecting where to access health services as well as national patterns and variations in service use and delivery,” concluded the research team.
The Chair of the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) Mr Justin Mohamed welcomed that the research found that ACCHS improve access to care and patient outcomes but called for more research to be done to demonstrate the health and broader benefits of ACCHS.
“More than half of Australia's Aboriginal population use ACCHS, demand is growing at six per cent a year and we know Aboriginal people bypass mainstream services to visit ours. ACCHS are clearly having a big impact on improving the health of Aboriginal people but the benefits are even broader as they also employ more than 3,500 Aboriginal people across the country.”
“The provision of accessible and culturally appropriate health services is critical to closing the gap in life expectancy and health outcomes. It is therefore essential that greater effort is put towards effective evaluation of both ACCHS and mainstream services to provide the best possible services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples,” said Alison Verhoeven, AHHA Chief Executive.
“The AHHA is proud to support independent research to inform evidence-based policy development. We look forward to furthering this discussion to maximise the use of health resources, drive quality of care and enhance patient experience and to continuing to work with NACCHO and other organisations to increase the evidence base of the effectiveness of ACCHS.”