Virtual Integrated Practice (VIP) - supporting a sustainable rural workforce using telehealth

Principal Advisor: Professor Claire Jackson

Email: c.jackson@uq.edu.au

Research group: Centre for Health System Reform and Integration

Organisational unit: Mater Research Institute-UQ

Virtual Integrated Practice (VIP) was co-designed in partnership with rural general practices, with a focus on accessible rural continuity of primary care. Through the VIP Program, rural general practices are joined by an urban Vocationally Registered General Practitioner who provides ongoing care to patients via telehealth. A key feature of this Program is that GPs are known to the practice and fully embedded in the practice team for a minimum of 18 months, despite working remotely, to promote continuity of care. Since the Program was implemented, over 1900 services have been provided to rural and remote patients in Western Queensland, including acute care, chronic disease management, mental health, and others. VIP is expanding to additional vulnerable practices located across the geographies of Queensland. Using a rigorous evaluation framework, the effectiveness and implementation of the Program including its sustainability, barriers and enablers to implementation, and key criterion for broader scale up will be evaluated. Using mixed methods, the PhD candidate will: 

• Use qualitative interviews/surveys with stakeholders to understand acceptability and sustainability of the VIP service, and barriers and enablers to implementation.
• Analyse service data to understand outpatient avoidance.
• Conduct a costing evaluation to inform a sustainable funding model.