CareTrack: assessing the appropriateness of health care delivery in Australia

Phan, Thanh G; Srikanth, Velandai K

doi:10.5694/mja12.11187

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To the Editor: We write to express our concerns with the article by Runciman and colleagues on the appropriateness of health care delivery in Australia.1 Our concerns focus on the issue of stroke care and the notion that poor compliance with guidelines is interpreted as “inappropriate” patient care.

Monash Medical Centre, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC.

Correspondence: thanh.phan@monash.edu

Competing interests:

Thanh Phan has received honoraria from Bayer and Genzyme for presenting lectures on stroke. He has been invited to attend a Genzyme-sponsored Fabry disease neurology board meeting in January 2013.

1. Runciman WB, Hunt TD, Hannaford NA, et al. CareTrack: assessing the appropriateness of health care delivery in Australia. Med J Aust 2012; 197: 100-105.
2. Thrift AG, Tong B, Senes S, et al. No evidence for an epidemic of stroke with the ageing of the population. Neuroepidemiology 2012; 38: 268-273.
3. Sanders LM, Srikanth VK, Psihogios H, et al. Clinical predictive value of the ABCD2 score for early risk of stroke in patients who have had transient ischaemic attack and who present to an Australian tertiary hospital. Med J Aust 2011; 194: 135-138. <MJA full text>
4. Sanders LM, Srikanth VK, Blacker DJ, et al. Performance of the ABCD2 score for stroke risk post TIA: meta-analysis and probability modeling. Neurology 2012; 79: 971-980.
5. Maurice Blackburn. Medical law experts say CareTrack study a roadmap for Australian health care standards [media release]. 16 Jul 2012. http://www.mauriceblackburn.com.au/news/press-releases--announcements/2012/medical-law-experts-say-caretrack-study-a-roadmap-for--australian-health-care-standards-.Aspx (accessed Oct 2012).

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