Close the Gap

Free, for the services doing the hardest work

Conference.care is provided at no charge to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health services, Aboriginal Medical Centres and Indigenous health practitioners — because the communities carrying the heaviest burden of chronic disease should not be the ones paying to coordinate care.

Why it matters

The gap is a chronic disease gap

Most of the life expectancy gap is made of exactly the conditions case conferencing was designed for: diabetes, cardiovascular and kidney disease, mental health, and the way they compound.

8.8 years

lower life expectancy for First Nations males born 2020–2022, at 71.9 years against 80.6.

2.3×

the rate of total disease burden carried by First Nations people compared with non-Indigenous Australians.

2031

the year the National Agreement commits to closing the life expectancy gap — a generation from 2020.

What we do

The platform, the coordination and the team — at no cost

Aboriginal Medical Centres and Indigenous health services use Conference.care on exactly the same terms as any other practice, except that we waive our fee entirely. Nothing is limited, nothing is trialled and there is no term.

Our team does the recruiting as well. If the endocrinologist, psychologist or dietitian a patient needs isn't available locally, we find one and bring them into the conference by video — so the care plan is built with the community's clinicians, not around them.

Country at dusk in remote South Australia

How it runs

Culturally safe, and led from the community

The service leads

The community's own GP or Aboriginal Health Practitioner convenes the conference, chooses who joins, and keeps the relationship with the patient. We never sit between them.

We bring the team

Specialists and allied health join by video from wherever they are, so a patient is not asked to travel for a conversation about their own care.

Medicare covers the clinicians

Participating clinicians claim the MBS case conferencing items as usual. The patient is never charged, and neither is the service.

Our commitment

Free of charge, for as long as it is needed

This is not a pilot or a discount. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health services and Indigenous health practitioners use Conference.care without a fee, permanently.

Get in touch

Talk to us about your service

Tell us which clinicians your patients need and we will go and find them. No cost, no contract.

References

  1. King MA, Roberts MS. Multidisciplinary case conference reviews: improving outcomes for nursing home residents, carers and health professionals. Pharmacy World & Science. 2001;23(2):41–5. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1011215008000
  2. Agar M, Luckett T, Luscombe G, Phillips J, Beattie E, Pond D, et al. Effects of facilitated family case conferencing for advanced dementia: a cluster randomised clinical trial. PLoS ONE. 2017;12(8):e0181020. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0181020
  3. Shelby-James T, Currow D, Phillips P, Williams H, Abernethy A. Promoting patient centred palliative care through case conferencing. Australian Family Physician. 2007;36(11):961–3. Available from: https://www.racgp.org.au/afp/200711/20754
  4. Phillips JL, West PA, Davidson PM, Agar M. Does case conferencing for people with advanced dementia living in nursing homes improve care outcomes: evidence from an integrative review? International Journal of Nursing Studies. 2012;50(8):1122–35. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2012.11.001
  5. Shelby-James T, Butow P, Davison G, Currow D. Case conferences in palliative care: a substudy of a cluster randomised controlled trial. Australian Family Physician. 2012;41(8):608–12.
  6. Vest JR, Blackburn J, Yeager VA, Haut DP, Halverson PK. Primary care-based case conferences and reductions in health care utilization. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved. 2021;32(3):1288–1300. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1353/hpu.2021.0132
  7. Reuther S, Dichter MN, Büscher I, Vollmar HC, Holle D, Bartholomeyczik S, et al. Case conferences as interventions dealing with the challenging behavior of people with dementia in nursing homes: a systematic review. International Psychogeriatrics. 2012;24(12):1891–1903. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1017/s1041610212001342
  8. Mitchell G, Del Mar C, O'Rourke P, Clavarino A. Do case conferences between general practitioners and specialist palliative care services improve quality of life? A randomised controlled trial. Palliative Medicine. 2008;22(8):904–12. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1177/0269216308096721
  9. Hollingworth S, Zhang J, Vaikuntam BP, Jackson C, Mitchell G. Case conference primary-secondary care planning at end of life can reduce the cost of hospitalisations. BMC Palliative Care. 2016;15(1). Available from: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12904-016-0157-9
  10. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Patient Experiences in Australia, 2024–25 financial year. ABS, Canberra. abs.gov.au
  11. Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care. Medicare Benefits Schedule — all 106 multidisciplinary case conferencing items, and explanatory notes AN.0.49 and MN.3.2. Item numbers, duration bands, schedule fees and benefits on this site are extracted directly from the machine-readable schedule (MBS-XML-20260801.XML, effective 1 August 2026); GP attendances out of hospital attract the 100% benefit, specialist and allied health attendances the 85% benefit. MBS Online downloads · item search
  12. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander life expectancy, 2020–2022. ABS, Canberra. abs.gov.au
  13. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Australian Burden of Disease Study: impact and causes of illness and death in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people 2018. AIHW, Canberra. aihw.gov.au
  14. Australian Government. National Agreement on Closing the Gap — targets and outcomes. closingthegap.gov.au
  15. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Rural and remote health. AIHW, Canberra. aihw.gov.au
  16. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Multimorbidity in Australia. AIHW analysis of the ABS 2022 National Health Survey; multimorbidity defined as 2 or more of 72 selected long-term health conditions. aihw.gov.au
  17. Bates SM, Lin J, Allen LN, Wright M, Kidd M. Can multidisciplinary teams improve the quality of primary care? A scoping review. eClinicalMedicine. 2025;88:103497. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2025.103497
  18. Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. Upcoming Changes to Chronic Disease Management Framework — MBS Items for GP Chronic Condition Management Plans, factsheet, last updated 22 May 2025. Patients with a plan may access up to 5 individual allied health services per calendar year (10 for patients of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent). mbsonline.gov.au
  19. The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners. General Practice: Health of the Nation 2025. RACGP, East Melbourne, 2025. Executive summary and Chapter 2 (state of the general practice workforce). racgp.org.au/health-of-the-nation-2025; full report (PDF): Health-of-the-Nation-2025.pdf.
  20. Australian Bureau of Statistics. National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing, 2020–2022. ABS, Canberra. 21.5% (4.3 million) of people aged 16–85 had a 12-month mental disorder. abs.gov.au
  21. Belcher J, Myton R, Yoo J, Boville C, Chidwick K. Exploring the physical health of patients with severe or long-term mental illness using routinely collected general practice data from MedicineInsight. Australian Journal of General Practice. 2021;50(12):944–9. Available from: doi.org/10.31128/AJGP-08-20-5563