The health system is a complex ecosystem, with pressures that result from increased prevalence of chronic disease, the complexity of multimorbidity, an aging population, changing consumer expectations and the cost of new technologies. The capacity for individual health professionals to remain current with best practice is near impossible when medical knowledge has been estimated to double every 73 days (Denson, 2011). An average time lag of 17 years has been estimated for the time it takes research evidence to reach clinical practice (Morris, et al. 2011). Only 60% of health care is estimated to be consistent with guidelines, with 30% considered wasteful or low value and 10% harmful (Braithwaite, et al. 2020).
As the Productivity Commission notes, in the health sector, where government funding and regulation have a heavy influence, it is not simply scientific breakthroughs that will drive innovative, high quality and sustainable health care. More significantly, it is the diffusion of ideas and adaptive business models that are lacking and thereby restricting innovation (Productivity Commission, 2022).
This innovation must occur across a complex mix of health professionals and service providers; delivering services in numerous ways and settings; funded, operated, managed and regulated from all levels of government and the non-government setting (AIHW, 2022).
