Enhance application and integrate the IAR-DST Into General Practice software

The Government is seeking proposals which allow the IAR-DST to achieve these objectives through enhanced application and integration of the IAR-DST into General Practice software. The objectives of the IAR are to:

• Assist Australian health professionals to decide or confirm the most appropriate level of mental health treatment/care a patient requires, based on their current symptoms and circumstances, across the five stepped levels of care in the Australian primary mental health stepped care model i.e., the least intensive and least intrusive evidence-based intervention that will likely lead to the most significant possible gain or improvement for the person;
• Provide a framework to guide mental health assessment across eight domains (IAR-DST). The eight domains help distil essential assessment information and amplify key signals critical for decision-making and planning of mental health treatment and appropriate referrals and supports;
• Provide a nationally consistent decision support tool to help referrers communicate initial assessment and referral information and articulate treatment needs using language commonly understood across the Australian health care system; and
• Complement, but not replace, health professional’s clinical judgement and patient preferences and choices.