title: Reforming Victoria's primary health and community service sector: rural implications.
abstract: In 1999 the Victorian primary care and community support system began a process of substantial reform, involving purchasing reforms and a contested selection process between providers in large catchment areas across the State. The Liberal Government's electoral defeat in September 1999 led to a review of these reforms. This paper questions the reforms from a rural perspective. They were based on a generic template that did not consider rural-urban differences in health needs or other differences including socio-economic status, and may have reinforced if not aggravated rural-urban differences in the quality of and access to primary health care in Victoria.
authors.affiliation: Department of Rural Health, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry & Health Sciences, University of Melbourne.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Alford
mesh_terms: D002391:Catchment Area, Health; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D004465:Economic Competition; D018166:Health Care Reform; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011332:Privatization; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D019035:Rural Health Services; D014739:Victoria