National Health Reform
The National Health Reform Agreement which was finalised by the Council of Australian Governments on 2 August 2011 sets out the shared intention of the Commonwealth, States and Territories to work in partnership to improve health outcomes for all Australians.
This is a key milestone in the National Health Reform process that will provide significant benefit in funding and delivery of health and aged care services in this State and will be complementary to NSW Government policies and initiatives to establish a more devolved model of local governance of health services, coupled with transparent funding and accountability for performance.
The Agreement provides for the national introduction of Activity Based Funding, the introduction of national prices to be set by the Independent Hospital Pricing Authority and a National Performance Framework with the National Health Performance Authority monitoring of Local Health District and hospital performance.
Most importantly, the agreed reforms provide for the Commonwealth to share the funding risk of the demand pressures on public hospitals and provides guaranteed growth funds which can help the States meet that demand from 2014/15. Under the new Agreement NSW will gain an additional $3 billion in guaranteed funding over the 6 years from July 2014 – June 2020.
NSW Health has commenced development of a National Health Reform Implementation Plan for this State in consultation with the Department of Premier and Cabinet and Treasury as well as the Local Health Districts.
The links below will take you to the Agreement and related package of documents as well as to the Commonwealth Government website.
Further Information: