abstract: 'Background/aim: Private providers of Medicare funded services are an

  integral part of the Australian primary health-care system. Evidence on

  private occupational therapy practice in rural and remote Australian

  settings is sparse.

  Methods: Providers of private occupational therapy services in outer

  regional and remote areas were surveyed regarding location and type of

  services provided, practice models and demographics. Descriptive

  statistics were used to summarise the findings.

  Results: Thirty-seven respondents completed the survey. In remote areas

  a number of occupational therapy services are not provided and no

  practices are based in very remote towns. One quarter of respondents

  visit at least five towns each week and one third had other paid

  employment. Nearly half indicated they will leave private practice

  within the next five years and nearly one third believed they could not

  sustain their practice. Medicare Chronic Disease Management was the main

  income source of only around half the respondents.

  Conclusions: There is a potential market failure of private occupational

  therapy in rural and remote areas, impacting on people who need these

  services and on work-force replacement. Contributing factors include

  population imbalance between cities and regional/remote areas, financial

  implications where only face-to-face contact is paid for and low incomes

  and levels of health insurance in regional/remote areas. Potential

  strategies include addressing the lack of reimbursement for travel,

  enabling private providers to overcome barriers to providing student

  placements and recognising rural practice as a specialist field.'
affiliation: 'Merritt, J (Corresponding Author), Broken Hill Univ, Dept Rural Hlth,
  Ctr Remote Hlth Res, POB 457, Broken Hill, NSW 2880, Australia.

  Merritt, Judith; Perkins, David; Boreland, Frances, Broken Hill Univ, Dept Rural
  Hlth, Ctr Remote Hlth Res, Broken Hill, NSW 2880, Australia.'
author: Merritt, Judith and Perkins, David and Boreland, Frances
author-email: jmerritt@gwahs.health.nsw.gov.au
author_list:
- family: Merritt
  given: Judith
- family: Perkins
  given: David
- family: Boreland
  given: Frances
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1111/1440-1630.12042
eissn: 1440-1630
files: []
issn: 0045-0766
journal: AUSTRALIAN OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY JOURNAL
keywords: primary health care; private practice; rural; remote
keywords-plus: 'ENHANCED PRIMARY-CARE; ALLIED HEALTH-PROFESSIONALS; SPEECH PATHOLOGISTS

  VIEWS; SERVICES; INTERVENTIONS; COMMUNITY; RECRUITMENT; RETENTION;

  AUSTRALIA; WORKFORCE'
language: English
month: AUG
number: '4'
number-of-cited-references: '71'
orcid-numbers: 'Boreland, Frances/0000-0003-0914-5428

  Perkins, David/0000-0001-9739-7339'
pages: 276-287
papis_id: fc68b20ff330810a43cc1aae7571b753
ref: Merritt2013regionalremote
times-cited: '14'
title: 'Regional and remote occupational therapy: A preliminary exploration of private
  occupational therapy practice'
type: article
unique-id: WOS:000322318400007
usage-count-last-180-days: '0'
usage-count-since-2013: '13'
volume: '60'
web-of-science-categories: Rehabilitation
year: '2013'