A Cost Comparison From a Health Service Perspective of Three Allied Health Models of Care for Remote Australia: Student-Assisted Services, Fly-In Fly-Out Services and Services Provided by a Resident Clinician.

The study compared costs only. It did not measure patient outcomes, service quality, or effectiveness, so it cannot say which model gave better care. The cost comparison assumes all three models delivered the same level of care to the same 50 clients, but the paper says effectiveness data were not collected. Costs were from a health service perspective and excluded student travel and accommodation funded by the Rural Health Multidisciplinary Training program, so the full cost to partners was not shown. Student activity time was based on student records, and the authors allowed for possible under-recording in one scenario, so the resident and fly-in fly-out estimates depend on those records. The results describe one very remote service episode in Nhulunbuy in 2022, so they may not apply to other communities, professions, or service arrangements.

Funding was provided by the Cooperative Research Centre for Developing Northern Australia and the Australian Government Department of Health through the Rural Health Multidisciplinary Training Programme. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.

Do not conclude that resident clinicians are the best model overall. The study compared costs only, not patient outcomes, and it assumed all models could provide the same level of care. It also excluded some student travel and accommodation costs that were funded by a government training program.