Australian Medical Association

The AMA submission to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons highlights that: urgency categories should facilitate patients being prioritised for surgery fairly and equitably; category definitions should take account of all the factors relevant to a patient's requirement for surgery; the primary driver for surgeons to categorise elective surgery will always be clinical urgency; and elective surgery waiting time should be counted from the time the patient is referred by a general practitioner to a surgeon for assessment until the time surgery is performed.

The AMA's submission to the Independent Hospital Pricing Authority on a pricing framework for public hospital services calls for hospital services to be funded on the basis of an 'effective' rather than an 'efficient' price. An effective price is one that provides sustainable and equitable access to high quality hospital services. The submission details the AMA's support for appropriate funding of post-hospital care; investment in teaching, training and research; and small and medium sized hospitals.

The AMA Budget Submission identifies areas where additional investment in health care and health infrastructure is needed and should be considered in the forthcoming Federal Budget.

The AMA does not suggest that the answer to every question is to spend more. We have identified areas where the Government can spend more effectively.

The AMA's submission to the Senate Finance and Public Administration Committee on the National Health Reform Amendment (Independent Hospital Pricing Authority) Bill 2011 highlights the importance of the Pricing Authority, the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, and the National Health Performance Authority collaborating on their roles and responsibilities, for example, on data collection requirements.

It also points out that the Pricing Authority should consider the standards set by the Performance Authority when calculating the national 'efficient' price, that is, it must take into account the performance that must be achieved. In addition, the National Health Reform Agreement allows states to pay hospitals less than the determined efficient price, therefore, we recommend that the actual payments made to hospitals are reported to Parliament so that it is clear when poor performance is linked to insufficient funding.

Overall the Bill before Parliament responds to the AMA's lobbying last year to ensure the Pricing Authority considers the range of variables affecting the actual costs of providing health care services when calculating the national efficient price. However we recommend that the Authority is explicitly required to ensure hospitals can fulfil their teaching and research obligations.

The AMA submission to the Department of Health and Ageing on the draft Performance and Accountability Framework which will be used by the National Health Performance Authority urges the Government to undertake a proper consultation process on the performance indicators proposed in the Framework beyond the State and Territory governments.

The AMA has made an additional submission to the Department of Health and Ageing to raise concerns identified by AMA member junior doctors. This submission:

• emphasises the need to ensure that time-based targets do not impact on the ability of public hospitals to provide quality clinical education and training;
• calls for ongoing resources to support the ability of emergency departments, the hospital and community providers to fulfil education and training obligations; and
• recommends that the monitoring and evaluation of the impact of targets also includes the impact on education, training and junior doctor experiences.

This submission supplements the submission lodged by the AMA on 25 May 2011.

The AMA made a submission in response to the National Health Reform Amendment (National Health Performance Authority) Bill that was referred to the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee for inquiry in May 2011. The AMA has argued for amendments to empower the new Authority to report on, and impose penalties for, data manipulation and to address other issues of concern including adequate consultation with medical practitioners. The Authority will report on the performance of: local hospital networks; public hospitals; private hospitals; primary healthcare organisations; and other bodies or organisations that provide health care services.

The AMA has made a submission to the Department of Health and Ageing, on the implementation of elective surgery and emergency department targets, which strongly advocates for an evidence-based approach to implementation. The AMA supports measures to improve the timeliness and quality of patient care in public hospitals but cautions against imposing arbitrary time-based targets that may carry more risks than potential benefits if they are not slowly, carefully and cautiously implemented.

The AMA made a submission in response to the National Health Reform Amendment (National Health Performance Authority) Bill that was tabled in Parliament on 3rd March 2011 and referred to the House of Reps Standing Committee on Health and Ageing for inquiry. Amendments were sought to empower the new Authority to report on, and impose penalties for, data manipulation and to address other issues of concern including adequate consultation with medical practitioners. The Authority will report on the performance of: local hospital networks; public hospitals; private hospitals; primary healthcare organisations; and other bodies or organisations that provide health care services.

Second Submission

The AMA submission to the Department of Health and Ageing position paper on the role and governance of Lead Clinician Groups released on 20 May 2011 emphasises that the Commonwealth Government's attempts to provide doctors with a meaningful role in how local hospitals are run has failed.

First Submission  - 17 February 2011

The AMA submission to the Department of Health and Ageing discussion paper on the role and governance of Lead Clinician Groups released on 25 January 2011 strongly opposes the limited role for doctors proposed. The AMA submission provides a model for Lead Clinician Groups that ensures doctors are involved in decisions made at the local hospital level about resource allocation, service planning and provision, and patient care.