Willis: Understanding the Australian Health Care System, 4th Edition

Chapter 01: Understanding the Australian Health Care System: How to Use This Book 

Test Bank 

MULTIPLE CHOICE 

1.	Which of the following does the sociologist Freidson define as key characteristics of health professionals?

a. Autonomy of practice and capacity to self-regulate
b. Strong service ethic with set standards and ideals 
c. Specialised and accredited training
d. All of the above

ANS: D

Freidson regarded medicine as the ‘gold standard that all the other professions aspired to’ and defined the key characteristics of health professionals as strong service ethic with set standards and ideals, specialised and accredited training, autonomy of practice and capacity to self-regulate.

REF: p. 3

2.	Eliot Freidson defined a profession as a group of workers who:

a. have the knowledge and skills to do a highly specialised task.
b. make the tools for a particular occupation.
c. earn over $100,000 per year.
d. are affiliated with a union.

ANS: A

Eliot Freidson suggested that where the knowledge and skills required to perform a task are highly specialised, control of the work is recognised as being held in the hands of a profession.

REF: p. 3

3.	Tuohy’s theory of health care systems suggests the most significant factor in any health care reform is:

a. who pays for the services that are provided. 
b. how much of a priority it is on the government policy agenda.
c. what roles the governments and the market play.
d. none of the above.

ANS: A

Fundamental to any theory of health care reform is the question of who pays for the services that are provided.

REF: p. 5

4.	The term ‘medical dominance’ can mean that:

a. doctors have power over most other health professionals for various reasons. 
b. doctors have the highest level of skills and education.
c. there are more doctors than any other health profession.
d. doctors are the most trustworthy.

ANS: B

This gives the profession considerable esteem in the eyes of patients and in some instances gives power over other professions and is described as medical dominance. 

REF: pp. 3-4

5.	What is one of the ways governments have worked towards controlling the escalating costs of health care?

a. Negotiating with health professions, particularly doctors
b. Imposing health care reforms 
c. Trialling new pricing mechanisms each financial year
d. Limiting access to service for some population groups

ANS: B

As governments have increasingly strived to control costs through imposing health care reforms, they have moved to negotiate with the health professions, particularly medicine. Ultimately, these negotiations are over the control that the medical profession has within the health care system and attempts to curb that power through reforms, as well as control of costs.

REF: p. 4

6.	AHPRA stands for:

a. Australasian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency.
b. Australian Health Professional Regulation Agency.
c. Australian Health Practitioner Registration Agency.
d. Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency.

ANS: D

The correct name is Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency.

REF: p. 4

7.	In the public-integrated model, hospitals and health services are funded directly by the government as part of the welfare state through levies and taxation. 

a. Medicare fits the welfare market model.
b. Medicare funding for public hospitals fits this model (public-integrated model).
c. Concentrating on one of the social determinants of health at a time fits this model.
d. Medicare fits the private insurance model.

ANS: B

The models are the public-integrated model, the public-contracted model and the private insurance model. In the public-integrated model, hospitals and health services are funded directly by the government as part of the welfare state through levies and taxation. Medicare funding for public hospitals fits this model (public-integrated model).

REF: p. 5

8.	Neoliberals also hold the view that:

a. the social determinants of health should be addressed using a coordinated approach.
b. individuals tend to act in their own self-interest.
c. policies should concentrate on one of the social determinants of health at a time.
d. deregulating the private sector should be deregulated.

ANS: B

Neoliberals also hold the view that individuals tend to act in their own self-interest. As a consequence, they believe that, in a robust democracy, there should be maximum freedom of choice for the individual and limited interference by governments in citizens’ lives or in their business dealings, in the belief that individuals will strive to achieve the best outcomes for themselves. 

REF: p. 7

9.	Tuohy’s theory of structural balance and institutional mix refers to the:

a. introduction of the Medicare co-payment balanced with the gap fee charged by GPs.
b. balance of power between various professionals and the mix of private and public service provision.
c. understanding of the tension between government and consumers in health policy.
d. conceptualisation of the history of the Australian health care system.

ANS: B

Tuohy (1999) refers to the idea that all the conditions for change must be right before it can be achieved as the institutional mix. 

REF: p. 5

10.	Efficiency and productivity of the health care system based on ‘new public management’ (NPM) has incorporated one or more of the following competitive practices:

a. paying public hospitals bonuses if they see more patients.
b. activity-based funding.
c. outsourcing non-essential services in the public sector.
d. all of the above.

ANS: D

The State may employ market mechanisms, or take control of the collegial system, or the private system might enter into arrangements with the State to the point that these systems are now radically changed. The classic example of this is the way in which the State has introduced market measures into the welfare state forms of health care provision. This is called new public management and it is driven by a philosophy called neoliberalism and the practices of economic rationalism.

REF: p. 7