From idea to influence:
10 years shaping better health systems
Over the past decade, the Centre for the Business and Economics of Health (CBEH) has pursued a broad yet demanding question: how can research genuinely improve health outcomes?
The answer has not been found through theory alone but through collaboration that unites researchers, policymakers, health services and communities to address real-world health challenges.
Reflecting on the Centre’s first decade, CBEH Director and Taylor Family Chair Professor Lisa Nissen said the key focus has consistently been to create practical, sustainable solutions.
“The Centre has become a place where rigorous research directly informs how health systems evolve by connecting evidence, policy and practice to improve outcomes for people and communities."
Professor Lisa Nissen, CBEH Director and Taylor Family Chair
Professor Lisa Nissen, CBEH Director and Taylor Family Chair
“What we’ve learned is that meaningful health reform depends on collaboration. By working across disciplines and sectors, CBEH is helping shape changes that are realistic, scalable and grounded in practice.”
What started as an idea to form a modest research centre has transformed into a decade of impact.
As the Centre has grown, its focus has sharpened around areas where evidence can directly shape policy, practice and health system performance.
This work spans health workforce optimisation, medication safety and prescribing, scope of practice reform, and health system funding and decision‑making.
Below are some of the key ways CBEH is supporting meaningful change across the health system.
Optimising the health workforce
Led by Professor Nissen, the EvolveHealth Health Workforce Optimisation program is redefining how Australia plans and deploys its health workforce.
The program responds to rising demand and workforce shortages by shifting policy and practice from doctor‑led models to person‑centred, team‑based care.
By focusing on skills and capabilities aligned with what people actually need, EvolveHealth delivers research that supports new models of care, strengthens workforce resilience and improves access and equity.
The program also aligns closely with national and state health strategies, helping inform sustainable, future‑ready workforce reform across Australia.
Read more: Redefining the future of work and delivery of care
Medication safety and better prescribing
Medication‑related problems – such as incorrect prescribing, unsafe combinations or medicines not being used as intended – cause preventable harm in Australia, leading to unnecessary hospital visits and pressure on health services.
Led by Associate Professor Jean Spinks and Professor Lisa Nissen, CBEH’s ACTMed project adopts a proactive approach to medication safety in primary care.
It shows how early risk detection and collaboration between pharmacists, GPs and patients can improve prescribing, reduce harm and promote safer medicine use.
By integrating pharmacists into care teams and enabling targeted actions, the project aims to enhance patient outcomes, streamline workflows and develop sustainable medicines management models nationwide.
Read more: Pharmacists could one day work in GP clinics. Here’s what’s in it for you.
Scope of practice and national reform
Across Australia, many health professionals are unable to work to their full scope of practice – the full range of services they are trained and qualified to deliver – limiting access to care and placing unnecessary pressure on the health system.
CBEH has played a central role in addressing this challenge by contributing long‑standing expertise in health workforce research and planning to national policy reform.
Informed by extensive national stakeholder engagement, CBEH research underpinned the Australian Government’s Unleashing the Potential of our Health Workforce – Scope of Practice Review.
Through applied workforce research and consultation, CBEH helped identify the legislative, funding and system barriers that prevent health professionals from using their full skills and capabilities.
Building on this work, CBEH researchers have secured MRFF funding to develop evidence‑based models that support multidisciplinary, team‑based care and enable practical, system‑wide reform.
Read more: CBEH drives research behind national health workforce review
Informing national funding decisions
Decisions about which medicines and medical services receive public funding have far‑reaching implications for patient access, value for money and health system sustainability.
CBEH is one of the few centres in Australia that evaluates submissions for both the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) and the Medical Services Advisory Committee (MSAC) – a unique capability that reflects the Centre’s depth of expertise in health technology assessment.
This work has a direct and meaningful impact on the healthcare system by equipping policy-makers with clear, evidence-based insights into the benefits, risks and costs of new technologies, and helping to ensure that patients gain timely access to safe, effective and high-value care.
Personnel growth
- 2018: The Centre commenced with 4 staff, led by Professor Stephen Birch as Director.
- 2020: The core team expanded to 8 research staff, establishing the Centre’s research capability.
- 2026: CBEH comprises 25 researchers and 2 support staff, supported by 43 UQ affiliates and eight Honorary and Adjunct Professors.
External funding
The growth in external research funding reflects the Centre’s success in attracting competitive grants and its reputation for delivering impact‑driven research across health policy, economics and systems.
Publications
Looking ahead
As CBEH enters its next chapter, collaboration and impact remain central in translating research into meaningful change.
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