Commission Must Have Broad Scope: Health Reform Group

MEDIA RELEASE

Embargoed for 6am20th December 2007

Commission must have broad scope: health reform group

COAG’s discussionstoday should agree a broad scope for the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission, and the Commission must have a mandate to drive ongoing national reform in the health sector, the Australian Health Care Reform Alliance said today.

One of the first tasks of the Commission should be to find out where all health dollars are currently being spent, and determine how effectively it is being used, AHCRA Acting Chair Fiona Armstrong said.

“We currently have a national annual spend of around $80 billion on health care,” Ms Armstrong said, “but very little evaluation actually takes place to determine the efficacyof that, either in terms of cost-effectiveness or the resultant health outcomes.”

The Commission should undertake national health expenditure and health needs audits as a matter of priority, according to the Alliance.

This would help to reduce duplication in health financing allocations and ensure funds were being used where they are most needed and likely to achieve the best possible outcomes.

“Because of our current system of healthfundingit is becoming increasingly hard to provide adequate health care to everyone. As we face pressures from an ageing population, escalating health inflation, and an urgent need to address the inequities in the system, it becomes more and more important to make sure every cent we spend counts, and makes a difference.”

Determining the community’s priorities for health is therefore an important part of the reform process, Ms Armstrong said. It will be vital for the Commission to seek the public’s views on variousaspects of health reform, andto facilitate public debate.

Major changes in the way health care is funded and delivered are essential, according to AHCRA, and the establishment of the Commission is an important first step.

“It is vital that the impetus continues to shift towards a system that is centred on primary health care,” Ms Armstrong said. “We have one of the highest rates of admission to hospital in the world. Now is the time to start creating a health system that keeps people out of hospital, and in the community. This must also be a key focus for the Commission.”

Media enquiries: AHCRA Acting Chair and spokesperson Fiona Armstrong 0438 900 005

Allied Health Professionals Australia (AHPA), Audiology Australia (AA), Australian College of Midwives, Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS), Australian Health Promotion Association, Australian Hospitals and Healthcare Association (AHHA), Australian Nursing Federation (ANF), Australian Physiotherapy Association (APA), Australian Rural Health Education Network, Australian Salaried Medical Officers Federation, Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation}, Catholic Health Australia, Centre for Clinical Governance Research in Health NSW, Centre for Health Services Research, Chiropractors' Association of Australia, CHOICE, Chronic Illness Alliance, Combined Pensioners & Superannuants Association of NSW Inc (CPSA), Continence Foundation of Australia, Country Women's Association of Australia (CWAA), The Council of Remote Area Nurses of Australia (CRANA), Doctors Reform Society (DRS), Frontier Services of the Uniting Church, Health Consumers Council WA, Health Consumers Network (HCN), Health Issues Centre (HIC), Health Reform South Australia (HRSA), Maternity Coalition Inc, National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation, National Council on Intellectual Disability (NCID), National Public Hospitals Clinicians' Taskforce, National Rural Health Alliance (NRHA), NSW Nurses' Association (NSWNA), OT AUSTRALIA (The Australian Association of Occupational Therapists), Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA), Public Hospitals, Health and Medicare Alliance of Queensland (PHHAMAQ), Redcliffe-Bribie-Caboolture Division of General Practice (RBCDGP), Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP), Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP), Rural Doctors Association of Australia,South Australian Salaried Medical Officers Association (SASMOA), Services for Australian Rural and Remote Allied Health Inc (SARRAH), Tasmanian Medicare Action Group (TasMAG), Victorian Medicare Action Group (VMAG), Victorian Public Health Research and Education Council, Western Sydney Health And Effective Healthcare Australia.