The Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing (DoHA) engaged HealthConsult working in partnership with HPA and Collaborative Health Solutions to develop activity based funding (ABF) in community service obligation (CSO) hospitals
The Department of Health and Ageing
Our approach
The project included consultations with representatives of DoHA and jurisdictional health authorities to discuss issues relating to the delivery and funding of health services in rural and remote areas, as well as current approaches to defining and funding CSO hospitals. The project team reviewed the available documentation (including the new Australian Hospital Patient Costing Standards (AHPCS)) and examined the published literature for issues relating to the use of ABF in small hospitals.
A CSO hospital survey was also conducted to inform the assessment of the counting and costing capability of CSO hospitals. Data specifications were developed for extracts from existing national data systems and then the extracted data were used to prepare potential CSO hospital profiles. These profiles were the basis of a comprehensive analysis to develop and test various possible definitions of a CSO hospital. These profiles were used as the basis of a series of analyses that examined the issues arising from applying alternative criteria and thresholds in defining CSO hospitals, as input into devising a definition that best identifies hospitals that may be disadvantaged in the ABF context.
Outcome
Recommendations to further the funding approach for CSO hospitals under the health reform arrangements were identified through this project and presented as part of a final report to the DoHA.
Our vision
HPA aims to be a leading firm in specialist consulting services in the health care sector, offering qualitative and quantitative analysis and synthesis of evidence, providing expertise in statistics and data science, and contributing to well founded and practical policy advice. We aim to deliver the highest quality of services, helping our clients to achieve their objectives, while transferring our expertise and building their capabilities.
