To meet the reporting requirements of Section 240 of the National Health Reform Act 2011, the Administrator is to include the basis of each State and Territory's National Health Reform (NHR) funding and payments.
The ACT currently funds its public hospitals on a Block funding model. As such, the ACT does not apply a price per weighted service.
Whilst the ACT does not fund its public hospitals on an activity basis, it continues to provide activity estimates in the ACT Local Hospital Network Service Level Agreement between the ACT Minister for Health and the Director-General of the ACT Health Directorate. The activity estimates reflect trending growth rates based on historical data.
The ACT LHN Service Level Agreement outlines:
- the schedule of services to be delivered by or on behalf of the LHN and the funding to be provided in relation to the provision of those services
- the Block funding to be provided to:
- small hospitals
- major hospitals for:
- Non-admitted home ventilation
- Non-admitted mental health services, including for child and adolescent patients
- Clinical teaching, training and research
- standards of patient care and service delivery
- performance standards, performance targets and performance measures for the LHN
- requirements for the LHN to report on its performance, as required or otherwise.
The following services are funded by the ACT Government, through the ACT LHN:
- Emergency department services
- Acute admitted services
- Mental health admitted services
- Sub/Non-acute admitted services
- Non-admitted services
- Non-admitted mental health
- Queen Elizabeth II Hospital
- Non-admitted child and adolescent mental health services
- Non-admitted home ventilation
- Teaching, training and research
- health services associated with responses to the COVID-19 pandemic
- other NHRA out-of-scope and unallocated services.
Further information regarding the Basis for National Health Reform payments in both 2021-22 and previous financial years is included at www.publichospitalfunding.gov.au