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Why change is needed
People with complex health and wellbeing needs can find themselves navigating multiple services, eligibility requirements and referral pathways. Programs may be individually effective, but separate funding arrangements and contracts can make it difficult to provide coordinated care across service boundaries.
At the beginning of this transformation, EMPHN commissioned 43 programs through 98 contracts with approximately 30 providers. Many of these programs operated under separate Commonwealth funding deeds, each with its own objectives, requirements and reporting arrangements. This contributed to fragmented pathways for consumers and clinicians, limited flexibility to respond to local needs, and a significant administrative burden for providers and EMPHN.
With eastern and north-eastern Melbourne’s population growing, ageing and becoming more complex, a more connected and sustainable approach is needed. EMPHN OneCare responds to this challenge by using commissioning as a lever to improve integration, equity and outcomes across the local health system.
Why change is needed
Equity
EMPHN OneCare
During 2025–26, we continued developing EMPHN OneCare which represents a significant change in how EMPHN commissions primary health care services, creating a more integrated, place-based model designed around the needs of local communities.
Why change is needed
People with complex health and wellbeing needs can find themselves navigating multiple services, eligibility requirements and referral pathways. Programs may be individually effective, but separate funding arrangements and contracts can make it difficult to provide coordinated care across service boundaries.
EMPHN is moving from commissioning dozens of discrete programs to instead commissioning integrated, place-based services through fewer, longer-term, region aligned contracts with a stronger outcome focus and greater flexibility for providers. It aims to recognise that many clients of commissioned programs have multi-comorbidities that cut across existing programmatic siloes. It also aims to reduce fragmentation and administrative burden, facilitate collaboration, encourage innovation and make services easier to navigate for consumers and clinicians.
EMPHN OneCare aligns funding streams into four broad cohorts (Adult Wellbeing and Resilience, Youth Wellbeing and Resilience, Older People, Chronic and Complex) to be delivered in three geographic areas of about 500,000 people apiece. EMPHN OneCare will account for about 45% of EMPHN commissioned funds (excluded are programs such as headspace and Medicare Urgent Care Centres).
Building the future
EMPHN OneCare is a place-based commissioning model that will bring a range of services into a more coordinated regional framework. It is designed to make health care easier to navigate, support smoother transitions between services and give providers greater flexibility to respond to the needs of their communities.
The model covers the whole EMPHN catchment through three planning and commissioning regions:
- North
- East
- Inner South
These regions reflect population needs, existing referral patterns, local hospital networks and community and provider insights. They are not eligibility boundaries, and people will continue to access care where it best meets their needs.
The first phase brings services together around four priority population groups:
Children and young people
Adults experiencing mental health, alcohol and other drug, or psychosocial challenges
People living with chronic conditions and complex needs
Older people
Progress in 2025–26
During 2025–26, EMPHN moved OneCare from design into formal procurement.
Following extensive engagement and design work, EMPHN released a Request for Expressions of Interest in October 2025. This was the first stage of a two-step procurement process and invited providers and partnerships to demonstrate their readiness to deliver and further develop the model.
Work also continued on the foundations needed to support the model, including regional planning, service pathways, funding and payment mechanisms, outcome measures, data and reporting, evaluation planning, and arrangements to support a safe transition for consumers and providers.
Stakeholder engagement
EMPHN OneCare has been shaped through engagement with consumers, community members, service providers, general practices and health-system partners.
Since early 2025, 72 consumers participated in workshops, a further 55 completed surveys and 99 provider representatives also participated in workshops to test the proposed approach and help shape key design decisions.
EMPHN’s Consumer and Community Council, Clinical and Practice Council and Aboriginal Consultative Council provided advice and insights throughout the design process. Provider scenario-testing workshops helped examine how the proposed model could work in practice, while engagement with First Nations stakeholders, MPs and system partners contributed broader perspectives.
This input influenced the regional structure, the focus on priority populations, expectations for collaboration, approaches to access and navigation, and the outcomes EMPHN OneCare will seek to achieve. It also reinforced the importance of maintaining consumer choice, culturally safe care and continuity of services throughout the transition.
72
consumers participated in workshops
55
consumers completed surveys
99
provider representatives participated in workshops
EMPHN OneCare is designed to create a more connected experience for consumers and a stronger foundation for providers to work together. Over time, it will enable:
Easier access and navigation, with clearer entry points, referrals and handovers
More integrated care, connecting general practice, hospitals, community health and other services
Greater equity, with investment informed by population needs and directed towards communities experiencing poorer access or outcomes
More responsive services, giving providers greater flexibility to adapt care to local circumstances
Stronger partnerships, supporting collaboration, shared planning and learning across regions
Greater provider and workforce stability, through broader and more sustainable contracting arrangements
Less duplication and administration, allowing more time and resources to be directed towards care
Better use of data, with more consistent measures helping EMPHN and providers understand performance, outcomes and opportunities for improvement.
For consumers, the goal is a care experience that feels more connected and less dependent on navigating separate programs. For providers, OneCare creates greater opportunity to collaborate, innovate and respond to local needs. For EMPHN and its funders, it provides a stronger basis for understanding impact and directing investment where it can make the greatest difference.
Next steps
Following the release of the Request for Tender EMPHN expects to finalise contractual arrangements and prepare for implementation in late 2026.
EMPHN will work closely with consumers, providers, clinicians and system partners to refine delivery arrangements and support an orderly transition. Maintaining continuity of care will remain central, with structured handovers and active monitoring of access, demand, workforce stability and service performance where provider arrangements change.
Implementation will be phased, allowing the model to evolve through evidence, evaluation and what EMPHN learns alongside its partners and communities. Over time, EMPHN OneCare will provide a platform for a more integrated, equitable and sustainable primary health care system across eastern and north-eastern Melbourne.
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