Independent Hospital Funding Umpire Laws Passed
A key pillar of the Government’s health reforms that will deliver fair funding for hospitals across the country has passed through the Parliament.
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22 November 2011
A key pillar of the Government’s health reforms that will deliver fair funding for hospitals across the country passed through the Parliament last night.
“The Independent Hospital Pricing Authority will take the politics out of health funding and the passage of this legislation is another run on the board for health reform” Minister for Health and Ageing Nicola Roxon said.
“The Independent Hospital Pricing Authority – at arm’s length from the Government – will provide the health system with the stability and robustness that the Reserve Bank has provided for monetary policy for decades.
“The Authority will determine the national efficient price for hospital services across the country, taking into account factors such as safety and quality and the cost of services in regional hospitals.
“National efficient pricing will improve hospital funding and drive better performance from hospitals resulting in more services being delivered locally.
“This is a major micro-economic reform that will drive efficiency and transparency. There will be no more blank cheques and from 1 July 2012 Local Hospital Networks will be paid for services that they actually provide.
“Activity based funding was a key recommendation of the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission that concluded the introduction of this new system would result in efficiencies of between $500 million and $1.3 billion – the equivalent of hundreds of extra hospital beds.
“Our reforms are about encouraging hospitals to deliver more patient services – Mr Abbott on the other hand is looking for $70 billion in budget cuts that will only serve to hurt patients.
“While Labor is getting on with the job of implementing our historic health reforms, Mr Abbott last night again pledged to cut this important reform.
The Inaugural Chair of the Authority is Shane Solomon and the Deputy Chair is Jim Birch, both of whom have extensive experience in health administration and in activity based funding in Victoria and South Australia respectively.
The Interim Authority, led by Dr Tony Sherbon as the Acting CEO has been hard at work since September and this work will soon transfer to the permanent Authority.
For all media enquiries, please contact the Minister’s office on 02 6277 7220
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