States and Territories Rewarded for Improved Elective Surgery Performance
Most states and territories will receive full reward funding for their performance against the third round of elective surgery targets.
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4 November 2011
Most states and territories will receive full reward funding for their performance against the third round of elective surgery targets, while some states will only receive partial reward payment from the Government's 2008 elective surgery waiting list reduction plan.
Minister Nicola Roxon today confirmed the payments are being made in accordance with the independent advice from the COAG Reform Council released in September.
The Council of Australian Governments Reform Council has reported that over the 18 month assessment period there were almost one million procedures conducted, 47,652 more than targeted.
This supports reporting from the Australian Institute of Welfare statistics, which show an extra 70,000 elective surgery operations performed over the past two financial years.
Jurisdictions will now share in $136 million to support and encourage their continuing efforts to reduce elective surgery waiting times in public hospitals. In December 2010 the Commonwealth announced $108 million in reward funding under previous stages of assessment.
“Providing hospitals with the resources they need for more beds and better care is a key priority of national health reform,” Ms Roxon said.
“This is the first time a Federal Government has ever invested directly in elective surgery, and it’s great that our investments have directly helped tens of thousands of Australians access the elective surgery they need.”
In total, the Gillard Government is investing up to $1.4 billion for faster elective surgery for patients. In addition to funding operations, this first $600 million package also provided for new elective surgery equipment and redeveloped facilities for projects in 129 different hospitals Australia-wide.
The new COAG national health reform deal signed in August will now build on the success of this plan. The aim is for hospitals to have 100 per cent of patients seen within recommended waiting times by 2016. Funding of $800 million will support these new agreements, including reward funding of $200 million for those states and territories that meet their targets.
“We want to make sure the right investments are in place so that no patient should wait longer than clinically recommended.”
Minister Roxon said that this announcement shows that there is no automatic payment of reward funding - all jurisdictions will have to deliver against the targets set.
"It is a timely message since assessments under the new health reforms start from 1 January 2012. Almost every jurisdiction will be well placed to improve their performance further," Ms Roxon said.
COAG Reform Council - Summary of jurisdictional achievement against Stage 3 targets
1 July 2010 to 31 December 2010Assessment | NSW | VIC | QLD | WA | SA | TAS | ACT | NT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| COAG Reform Council Assessment | ||||||||
Targets achieved | Full | Partial | Full | Partial | Full | Partial | Partial | Partial |
Percentage share of reward funding | 100 | 80 | 100 | 80 | 100 | 80 | 40 | 80 |
| Rewards Payments | ||||||||
Reward payment available | $45.4M | $34.6M | $30.9M | $14.2M | $12.1M | $3.6M | $2.3M | $0.9M |
Reward payment provided | $45.4M | $29.9M | $30.9M | $12.2M | $12.1M | $3.1M | $1.3M | $0.8M |
MEDIA NOTE
1. Elective Surgery Waiting List Reduction Plan provided for three reporting periods:
- Period 1: July to December 2009
- Period 2: January to June 2010
- Period 3 July to December 2010
3. During Period 3 rewards were calculated for:
- Meeting elective surgery admission targets
- Meeting case mix targets
- Meeting targets for timeliness of elective surgery – in particular for patients waiting longer than the clinically recommended time for surgery
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