Administrator, National Health Funding Pool

The Administrator is an independent statutory office holder. All Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments have to agree to their appointment to the position. The functions of the Administrator are set out in the  National Health Reform Act 2011 (NHR Act)(Opens in a new tab/window) and common provisions in relevant State and Territory legislation.

 

The National Health Funding Body

The NHFB and the Administrator of the National Health Funding Pool were established through the National Health Reform Agreement (NHR Agreement) of August 2011. The NHFB operates as a Commonwealth non‑corporate entity under the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 (PGPA Act) and is funded as a small agency under the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care Portfolio. The NHFB is an independent agency with 30 staff that support the Administrator to oversee the administration of Commonwealth, State and Territory public hospital funding and payments under the NHR Agreement. The Administrator is an independent statutory office holder. All Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments have to agree on their appointment to the position. The functions of the Administrator are set out in the National Health Reform Act 2011 (NHR Act) and common provisions in relevant State and Territory legislation.

What we do

Our primary functions are to assist the Administrator in: 

  • calculating and advising the Commonwealth Treasurer of the Commonwealth’s contribution to public hospital funding in each State and Territory
  • reconciling estimated and actual public hospital services, and adjusting Commonwealth payments 
  • undertaking funding integrity analysis to identify public hospital services that potentially received funding through other Commonwealth programs 
  • monitoring payments of Commonwealth, State and Territory public hospital funding into the National Health Funding Pool (the Pool) 
  • making payments from the Pool to each Local Hospital Network (LHN) 
  • reporting publicly on funding, payments and services 
  • developing and providing three year data plans to the Commonwealth, States and Territories 
  • supporting additional funding streams to be transacted through the Pool. 

To assist the Administrator and achieve our vision of improving the transparency of public hospital funding in Australia, we work collaboratively across four key functions outlined below:

Calculate

  • Calculate funding and issue payment advice
  • Data collection and analysis
  • Reconcile actual activity
  • Funding integrity

Pay

  • Payments System administration
  • Timely payments and bank reconciliations 
  • End of month processing 
  • National Health Funding Pool financial statements

Report

  • Funding, payment and activity reporting 
  • Data plan and compliance reporting 
  • Website 
  • Trend analysis and reporting

Organisation

  • Corporate planning 
  • Organisational performance  
  • Leadership and culture 
  • Risk management, assurance and governance

Stakeholders and partners

Productive relationships and regular communication with our stakeholders and partners supports us to improve the transparency of funding for public hospital services.