Our people

We are agile, innovative, responsive and unique

We have a small and specialised workforce that is capable, diverse and balanced. Our workforce is supported by a flexible legislative framework under the Public Service Act 1999 with terms and conditions governed by the National Health Funding Body Enterprise Agreement 2024–2027. Our (non-SES) staff salaries are detailed in our 2024 Determination (link to: Public Service (Section 24(1)–National Health Funding Body Non--SES Employees) Determination 2024). 

We recognise that engaged, skilled and versatile people are critical to the achievement of our objectives. We aim to support our workforce by: 

• attracting and retaining skilled, adaptable and responsive people 
• promoting a culture where people work within and across teams to maximise expertise and produce results that benefit the agency as a whole 
• supporting and developing the capabilities of our people to meet our objectives and their career aspirations 
• refining our organisational approaches to reflect that we are a dynamic, small–sized agency capable of responding quickly and flexibly to meet emerging requirements. 

Our positive workplace culture is underpinned by our United Leadership behaviours and working together as a united team to achieve our objectives. 

• One NHFB:  We contribute as a united team and encourage new ideas 
• Enhance trust: We treat others as equals and collaborate openly across boundaries 
• Open communication: We listen actively to the views of others and share information 
• Own It: We own our performance by knowing, accepting and performing our roles to the best of our ability. 

We are committed to demonstrating the Australian Public Service Values and Code of Conduct, both of which represent our approach to interacting and collaborating with colleagues, stakeholders, and the community: 

• impartial 
• committed 
• accountable 
• respectful 
• ethical.

We work collaboratively across three sections

Our organisational structure ensures our resources are aligned to core functions, providing for clear lines of reporting.

Finance

The Finance section provides financial support to the NHFB CEO and the Administrator, including managing the National Health Funding Pool Payments System, processing Commonwealth, State and Territory deposits and payments into and out of the Pool and facilitating authorisation by the Administrator for payments to LHNs and other providers.

The Finance section is also responsible for the production of NHFB and individual Pool Financial Statements for auditing by the Australian National Audit Office and each State and Territory’s Auditor-General respectively.

Data, Modelling and Analysis

The Data, Modelling and Analysis section develop and operate models that determine the Commonwealth funding contribution to LHNs for delivering public hospital services (over $25 billion for 2022-23). The section also reconciles estimated and actual service volumes through a range of data submissions (over 38 million records each year) related to public hospital funding.

The Data, Modelling and Analysis section is also responsible for linking hospital activity data with Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) claims data to identify if the Commonwealth has potentially paid for the same hospital service more than once (over 610 million MBS records per annum).

Policy, Planning and Performance

The Policy, Planning and Performance section are responsible for developing the NHFB’s Strategic Direction, Corporate Plan, Portfolio Budget Statements and Annual Reports. 

The Section works with colleagues, jurisdictions; and portfolio agencies to maintain the full suite of Administrator’s policies:

• Administrator’s Three Year Data Plan
• Data Compliance Policy
• Data Governance Policy
• Calculation and Reconciliation Framework
• Data Matching Business Rules

The Section also works with stakeholders to improve reporting through the development of a strategic outlook of public hospital funding, trend reporting and analysis, including the publication of monthly funding and activity data on publichospitalfunding.gov.au.

The Section also provides essential business support services to the NHFB, CEO and Administrator across risk management, assurance, governance, human resources, communications, security, management of Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) and Secretariat for the Administrator’s Jurisdictional Advisory Committee and Independent Audit and Risk Committee.