Are Medicare Funded Multidisciplinary Care Policies Being Claimed in accordance to Rehabilitation Needs in Patients with Stroke?

Background: Australian Primary Care Practitioners are incentivised through Medicare funded policies to provide chronic disease management and facilitate multidisciplinary care. Little is known about how these policies are claimed in the long-term management of stroke. The objective of this study was to describe the use of funded primary care policies for people with stroke by impairment status. Methods: Linked Australian Stroke Clinical Registry (2010-2014) and Medicare data from adults with 90-180 days post-stroke EQ-5D health status survey data and admitted to one of 26 participating Australian hospitals were analysed. Medicare item claims for Primary Care Practitioner led chronic disease management and multidisciplinary care coordination policies, during the 18 months following stroke are described. Registrants were classified into impairment groups using their EQ-5D dimension responses through Latent Class Analysis. Associations between impairment and use of relevant primary care policies were explored using multivariable regression. Results: 5432 registrants were included (median age 74 years, 44% female, 86% ischaemic), 39% had a chronic disease management claim and 39% a multidisciplinary care coordination claim. Three latent classes emerged representing minimal, moderate and severe impairment. Compared to minimal, those with severe impairment were least likely to receive chronic disease management (adjusted Odds Ratio (aOR): 0.61, 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 0.49, 0.75) but were most likely to receive multidisciplinary care coordination. Podiatry was the commonest allied health service prescribed, regardless of impairment. Conclusions: Less than half of people living with stroke had a claim for primary care initiated chronic disease management, with mixed access for those with severe impairments.