ELECTION 2016: ESSA MEMBER RESOURCE PACKAGE1. LETTER TO MINISTERS

[Insert date]

[Insert Candidate contact details] [Insert your contact details][Address etc.] [Address etc.]

Dear Minister [INSERT NAME],

Exercise & Sports Science Australia (ESSA) is a professional association representing over 6,000 members, including 3,845 accredited professionals. This includes university qualified: Accredited exercise scientists (AES), who specialise in the design, implementation

and evaluation of exercise and physical activity for healthy people. Accredited exercise physiologists (AEP), who are allied health professionals that

provide clinical exercise interventions aimed at preventing acute or managing sub-acute or chronic disease or injury, and assist in restoring optimal physical function, health or wellness; and,

Accredited sports scientists (ASp), who assist individual athletes and teams to improve their sporting performance.

The Australian healthcare landscape is preparing for major reforms, with chronic disease management (CDM) high on the agenda. The current focus on episodic, acute health care is ill suited to facilitate best-practice CDM, as a result, CDM remains one of Australia’s greatest health challenges. One strategy to optimise CDM and ensure future population health demands are managed in an appropriate and cost effective way, is to improve accessibility and utilisation of evidenced-based allied health professionals, such as AEPs, throughout the continuum of care.

In 2015, Deloitte Access Economics identified that exercise interventions delivered by AEPs are efficacious and highly cost effective in the Australian health care setting. Despite the clear economic and health imperatives attributed to the specialised exercise prescription provided by AEPs, Deloitte identified that these services are largely underutilised, with less than 1% of those eligible for AEP services being referred.

As part of the 2016 Election, we request your support of four effective and economically feasible measures to improve the health outcomes of Australians. Please find attached our election position providing further detail on these key policy areas, including: Reduce avoidable hospitalisations and readmissions Better integration and coordination of Medicare services

Optimise aged care services Contribute to the delivery of mental health care services

The economic and health imperatives for engaging the expertise of this workforce are compelling. We seek your party’s commitment to these policy areas and welcome the opportunity to discuss these issues further.

Yours faithfully,

INSERT NAMEINSERT POSITION

2. SOCIAL MEDIA MESSAGING Tweets We're calling on all parties and candidates to provide a real commitment to

#chronicdiseasemanagement this #Election2016 https://www.essa.org.au/for-media/advocacy-platform/policy-statements/

We're calling on all parties and candidates to provide a real commitment to #movemore this #Election2016 https://www.essa.org.au/for-media/advocacy-platform/policy-statements/

We're calling on all parties and candidates to provide a real commitment to #exerciseright this #Election2016 https://www.essa.org.au/for-media/advocacy-platform/policy-statements/

This #Election2016 #ESSA is calling for real policy change to manage Australia’s #mentalhealth https://www.essa.org.au/for-media/advocacy-platform/policy-statements/

This #Election2016 #ESSA is calling for real policy change to manage the health of #aging Australians https://www.essa.org.au/for-media/advocacy-platform/policy-statements/

We're calling an increase in the proportion of #AEPs #AESs to achieve a #healthierAustralia this #Election2016 https://www.essa.org.au/for-media/advocacy-platform/policy-statements/

This #Election2016 #ESSA is calling all parties and candidates to provide a real commitment to #reducehospitalisations https://www.essa.org.au/for-media/advocacy-platform/policy-statements/

FacebookIn the lead up to the 2016 Federal Election, Exercise & Sports Science Australia is calling on all parties and candidates to provide a real commitment to the health of Australians.

There are 4 key ways we can improve the health and wellbeing of the millions of Australians at risk of, or currently living with, a chronic health condition.

ESSA urges all political parties to support a healthier more productive Australia by committing to:

Reduce avoidable hospitalisations and readmissions Better integration and coordination of Medicare services Optimise aged care services Contribute to the delivery of mental health care services

#Election2016 #ESSA #healthierAustralia #movemore #exerciseright #chronicdiseasemanagement #reducehospitalisations #aging #mentalhealth

3. ELECTION POSITION STATEMENTS

Please refer to the attached document, or https://www.essa.org.au/essa-2016-federal-election-positions/ , for a copy of ESSA’s election position statements.

4. OTHER ESSA HEALTH POLICY POSITIONS

Members are welcome to duplicate any of the below ESSA government policy position statements that most resonate with them.

ESSA, Dietitians Association of Australia and Australian Diabetes Educators Association propose extending eligibility for MBS items to include pre-diabetes.

At least 2 million Australians have pre-diabetes and are at high risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM), whereby their annual incidence of developing diabetes is 5–10% compared to approximately 1% in the general adult population. Exercise interventions delivered by AEPs reduce the incidence of T2DM in these high-risk populations by ~31%, with benefits sustained long-term1.

The expansion of MBS items to include patients with pre-diabetes will enable early AEP intervention to reduce patient deterioration to T2DM, and the associated clinical and financial impacts on the patient, community and health system. Specifically, for people with pre-diabetes receiving an exercise intervention, as delivered by an AEP, expected savings in health system expenditure is $1,977 per person annually1.

The full submission can be found at https://www.essa.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/ESSA-DAA-ADEA-Pre-diabetes-submission_2016_final...pdf

Constrained access to allied health professionals, regardless of the severity or complexity of a person’s condition, is the most serious gap within the MBS.

In 2015, ESSA provided a submission as part of the MBS review consultation process.

- Despite the clear economic and health imperatives attributed to AEP interventions, these services are largely underutilised, with less than 1% of those eligible for AEP services being referred1.

- The allocation of 5 MBS CDM items is inadequate for achieving sustainable clinical and behavioural outcomes in patients.

The full submission can be found at https://www.essa.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/MBSreview2015_ESSAfeedback.pdf

A funded National Physical Activity Action Plan will halt the chronic disease epidemic, tackle obesity and boost productivity, liveability and prosperity.

Unlike 35 other nations, Australia does not have a national physical activity plan.

ESSA is proud to endorse the Heart Foundation’s ‘Move More, Sit Less’ Communique’, that outlines nine priority action areas and policies designed to increase Australian physical activity levels. This includes advocating funding of evidence-based physical activity and

lifestyle modification programs for people with, or at risk of, chronic disease.

ESSA calls for an urgent government response to the 2013 Senate Inquiry into sports science practices.

Address the under-utilisation of AEPs in aged care, attributed to current models of care not supporting evidence-based practice.

- In residential aged care facilities (RACF), the aged care funding instrument (ACFI) does not cover exercise physiology (and many other allied health services).

- RACF need to adopt a consumer directed care model to ensure an overarching pathway of care (is occurring in community aged care) instead of the siloed care under the ACFI. For example, funding should be available not just for pain relief but should be available to address the underlying causes of pain (e.g. poor mobility).

Referral to an AEP should become standard practice in the treatment of people diagnosed with a mental illness.

People living with a mental illness experience poorer physical health than the general population, culminating in poorer quality of life, recovery and premature death.

Symptoms of depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance dependence, obsessive compulsive disorder and bipolar disorder can improve with AEP interventions. Exercise appears to be as efficacious as cognitive behavioural therapy or anti-depressant medication in combatting depression, but without the negative side effects reported for some pharmaceutical interventions. Furthermore, each case of depression averted through AEP interventions saves $10,062 annually1.

1 Deloitte Access Economics 2015, ‘Value of Accredited Exercise Physiologists in Australia’.