Director, Health Program, Grattan Institute
Professor Stephen Duckett is Director of the Health Program at Grattan Institute and Emeritus Professor of Health Policy at La Trobe University. He has held top operational and policy leadership positions in health care in Australia and Canada, including as Secretary of what is now the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing. He has a reputation for creativity, evidence-based innovation and reform in areas ranging from the introduction of activity-based funding for hospitals to new systems of accountability for the safety of hospital care. An economist, he is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and of the Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.
New aged care data on hospitalisation rates show significant problem areas in residential aged care
Feb 02, 2021 13:13 pm UTC| Life Health
The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety released new data overnight comparing hospitalisation rates from residential aged care facilities. The report found 36.9% of nursing home residents presented to an...
Young people dropping private health hurts insurers most, not public hospitals
Feb 19, 2020 01:49 am UTC| Insights & Views Health
Young Australians are abandoning private health insurance in droves. And the overall decline in the percentage of the population with private coverage is continuing. New data for the three months to the end of 2019,...
How do you stop the youth exodus from private health insurance? Cut premiums for under-55s
Dec 04, 2019 11:26 am UTC| Insights & Views Business Health
Young people dont see private health insurance as good value for money. And theyre right: the cost of their expected use of private health care is significantly below what they pay in insurance premiums. Unsurprisingly,...
Aug 06, 2019 03:52 am UTC| Insights & Views Economy
As we age, were more likely to need a prosthesis to help us function like we used to. It may be a hip or knee prosthesis to replace a worn-out joint, a new lens after a cataract has been removed, or a pacemaker or cardiac...
What are the major parties promising on health this election?
May 07, 2019 03:07 am UTC| Insights & Views Politics
The major parties manifestos for the 2019 federal election present voters with starkly contrasting health policies. These policies are shaped and constrained by the overall themes presented by the party leaders, but have...
Morrison’s health handout is bad policy (but might be good politics)
Dec 15, 2018 16:31 pm UTC| Insights & Views Politics
The A$1.25 billion Community Health and Hospitals Program Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced this week should be awarded a big policy fail. The move sets back Commonwealth-state relations by decades and its...
Waiting for better care: why Australia’s hospitals and health care is failing
Oct 30, 2018 12:28 pm UTC| Insights & Views Health
This week were exploring nine different policy areas across Australias states, as detailed in Grattan Institutes State Orange Book 2018. Read the other articles in the series here. Australia has a good health system by...
In the rush for coronavirus information, unreviewed scientific papers are being publicized