HIGHLIGHTS
- Australian Coordinate Veterans’ Care Program launched in 2011 to improve health and wellbeing of veterans of Australian Defence Force.
- Department of Veterans’ Affairs commissioned Abt to evaluate clinical outcomes and impact on veterans’ well-being.
- Evaluation confirmed positive impact and provided recommendations regarding Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs), Patient-Reported Experience Measures (PREMs), chronic disease markers, and measures of holistic well-being.
PROJECT
Coordinated Care Veterans’ Program Evaluation
The Challenge
Veterans of the Australian Defence Force often experience a range of physiological and mental health concerns to a greater extent than civilians do. To address this, Australia’s Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) introduced the Coordinated Veterans’ Care (CVC) Program in 2011. In a general practice setting, CVC seeks to improve the overall health and wellbeing of participants by improving the management of chronic conditions (including mental health conditions), promoting health literacy, self-management, and best practice coordination of care through a person-centred approach.
DVA commissioned the evaluation to advance its understanding of the program’s benefits, including its clinical outcomes and impact on veterans’ wellbeing. As the program had been designed before 2011, the Department also wanted to assess potential redesign options amid a changing primary care policy and funding landscape and a different veteran cohort.
The Approach
To conduct the evaluation, Abt Australia’s Domestic Programs team used a comprehensive, mixed methods approach:
- An environmental scan and literature review examined care coordination for veterans in the other Five Eyes1 countries and contrasted this with Australia's approach.
- Quantitative methods, including program data and cost-efficiency analysis, assessed CVC participant characteristics and program implementation with a view to complement, rather than duplicate existing routine analytics.
- A range of stakeholder consultation processes informed the evaluation. They included consultation with and/or written submissions from DVA, other government agencies, health profession bodies/associations, ex-service organisations, and case studies with general practices. The case studies included consultation with CVC participants, general practitioners (GPs), practice nurses, and practice managers. Additionally, the evaluation incorporated results of an independently facilitated 2023 CVC Participant Survey.
1 The Five Eyes alliance includes the United States of America, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
The Results
The evaluation confirmed the program’s positive impact on participants' health and satisfaction. Key strengths that emerged included improved healthcare education and trust among veterans of the healthcare system.
Based on the evaluation, Abt provided recommendations for both continued implementation and program reform. As part of the former, recommendations included reducing administrative tasks for GPs, enhancing GP software interoperability, and improving provider communication and education.
Program reform suggestions included conducting a comprehensive health assessment at the point of transition to civilian life and taking a stepped model of care coordination matched to individual need. Additionally, Abt recommended consideration of strengthening outcome measures such as PROMs, PREMs, chronic disease markers, and measures of holistic well-being. These recommendations were well received by the Department.