| House of Representatives Standing Committee on Health and Ageing

Footnotes

Chapter 1 Introduction

[1]       Private briefing.

[2]       Australian National Audit Office (ANAO), Administration of State and Territory Compliance with the Australian Health Care Agreements, Audit Report No. 19 2006-2007, Commonwealth of Australia, 2007 (‘ANAO, Audit Report’).

[3]       State and territory governments are referred to as ‘states’ for the purposes of this report.

[4]       The Australian Government is referred to as ‘the Commonwealth’ for the purposes of this report as that is the term used in the Australian Health Care Agreements (AHCAs).

[5]       Copies of the AHCAs for each state and territory are available on Health’s website at: www.health.gov.au/internet/wcms/publishing.nsf/Content/health-ahca-agreement.htm viewed on 16 July 2007.

[6]       The AHCAs are considered identical for the purposes of this report; see also Appendix D footnote at p 43.

[7]       ANAO, Audit Report, pp 11, 23.

[8]       ANAO, Audit Report, p 11.

[9]       AHCAs, clause 9; see also Minister’s foreword, Department of Health and Ageing (Health), The state of our public hospitals, June 2006 report, Commonwealth of Australia, 2006, p iii.

[10]     AHCAs, clause 25.

[11]     AHCAs, clause 31.

[12]     House of Representatives Standing Committee on Health and Ageing (HAA), The Blame Game: Report on the inquiry into health funding, Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, 2006.

Chapter 2 Auditor-General’s report

[1]       Auditor-General, Annual Report 1994-95, p 3.

[2]       ANAO, Audit Report, p 27.

[3]       ANAO, Performance Information in Australian Health Care Agreements, Audit Report No. 21 2002-2003, Commonwealth of Australia, 2002, p 14.

[4]       ANAO, Audit Report, pp 27-28.

[5]       ANAO, Audit Report, p 14.

[6]       ANAO, Audit Report, pp 12-14.

[7]       ANAO, Audit Report, p 35, para 2.18.

[8]       ANAO, Audit Report, p 35, para 2.19.

[9]       ANAO, Audit Report, p 40.

[10]     ANAO, Audit Report, p 40.

[11]     ANAO, Audit Report, p 57.

[12]     ANAO, Audit Report, p 57.

Chapter 3 Adherence to clause 6 principles

[1]       AHCAs, clause 6.

[2]       ANAO, Audit Report, p 37.

[3]       Kalisch D, transcript, p 5.

[4]       ANAO, Audit Report, p 38.

[5]       ANAO, Audit Report, pp 38-39.

[6]       Kalisch D, transcript, p 6.

[7]       Health, The state of our public hospitals, June 2007 report, Commonwealth of Australia, 2007, pp 27, 48; ANAO, Audit Report, p 38.

[8]       Health, The state of our public hospitals, June 2007 report, p 12.

[9]       Transcript, pp 4, 5.

[10]     ANAO, Audit Report, p 38. See also Kalisch D, transcript, p 3.

[11]     HAA, The Blame Game, Box 7.2. See also ANAO, Audit Report, p 43.

[12]     ANAO, Audit Report, pp 38-39.

[13]     ANAO, Audit Report, p 40.

[14]     Kalisch D, transcript, p 4. See also ANAO, Audit Report, p 42.

[15]     Kalisch D, transcript, p 6.

[16]     ANAO, Audit Report, p 47.

[17]     Kalisch D, transcript, p3.

[18]     Schedule D of the AHCAs requires the states to maintain independent complaints bodies to resolve complaints about the provision of public hospital services.

[19]     See ANAO, Audit Report, p 46.

[20]     Kalisch D, transcript, p 8. See also ANAO, Audit Report, p 46.

[21]     ANAO, Audit Report, p 46.

[22]     Health, The state of our public hospitals, June 2007 report, p 40.

[23]     Health, The state of our public hospitals, June 2007 report, pp 49-51.

[24]     See Health, The state of our public hospitals, June 2006, report.

[25]     ANAO, Audit Report, p 47.

[26]     Gibson B, transcript, p 15.

[27]     ANAO, Audit Report, recommendation 2, p 40.

[28]     Gibson B, transcript, p 15.

[29]     HAA, The Blame Game, pp 206-09.

[30]     ANAO, Audit Report, p 48.

[31]     HAA, The Blame Game, pp 154-55. See also: chapter 5.

[32]     HAA, The Blame Game, recommendations 11 and 15, pp 130, 155.

[33]     Kalisch D, transcript, p 11.

[34]     Yapp G, transcript, p 12.

[35]     ANAO, Audit Report, p 48.

[36]     ANAO, Audit Report, p 48.

[37]     ANAO, Audit Report, p 49.

[38]     HAA, The Blame Game, p 155.

[39]     HAA, The Blame Game, recommendation 16, p 156.

[40]     AHCAs, clause 31.

[41]     ANAO, Audit Report, p 13.

[42]     ANAO, Audit Report, p 49.

[43]     See Council of Australian Governments, Guide to Intergovernmental Agreements, COAG, December 2005, www.coag.gov.au/guide_agreements.htm, viewed on 16 July 2007.

Chapter 4 Financial reporting by the states and territories

[1]       Kalisch D, transcript, p 8.

[2]       For example, one state reported on a cash rather than accrual basis; some excluded depreciation in their statements and some included ambulatory services while others did not. ANAO, Audit Report, p. 53

[3]       ANAO, Audit Report, p 53.

[4]       ANAO, Audit Report, pp 53, 57.

[5]       Yapp G, transcript, p 7.

[6]       Kalisch D, transcript, p 7.

[7]       ANAO, Audit Report, p 55.

[8]       ANAO, Audit Report, p 55.

[9]       ANAO, Audit Report, p 55.

[10]     ANAO, Audit Report, p 55.

[11]     ANAO, Audit Report, recommendation 3, p 57.

[12]     Yapp G, transcript, p 7. See also ANAO, Audit Report, p 57.

[13]     Kalisch D, transcript, p 7.

[14]     ANAO, Audit Report, p 19.

Chapter 5 Performance reporting by the states and territories

[1]       AHCAs, Schedule C, clause 1.

[2]       A national minimum data set (NMDS) is a minimum set of data elements agreed for mandatory collection and reporting at a national level. It may include data elements that are also included in other NMDS. An NMDS is contingent upon a national agreement to collect uniform data and to supply it as part of the national collection, but does not preclude agencies and service providers from collecting additional data to meet their own specific needs.

[3]       AHCAs, Schedule C, clause 12.

[4]       Gibson B, transcript,  p 9.

[5]       AHCAs, Schedule C, clause 11.

[6]       Kalisch D, transcript, p 2.

[7]       ANAO, Audit Report, pp 34-35.

[8]       ANAO, Audit Report, recommendation 1, p 20.

[9]       Yapp G, transcript , p 14.

[10]     Telephone advice, 2 July 2007.

[11]     AHCAs, Schedule C, clause 3.

[12]     AHCAs, Part 3, clause 9(c); See also: www.health.gov.au/internet/wcms/publishing.nsf/content/health-ahca-sooph-index06.htm, viewed on 26 June 2007.

[13]     Health, The state of our public hospitals, June 2007 report, pp 5-7.

[14]     Hon Tony Abbott MP, Minister for Health and Ageing, Media Release ABB80/07, State of our public hospitals, 29 June 2007.

[15]     HAA, The Blame Game, pp 213-16.

[16]     HAA, The Blame Game, pp 216-19.

[17]     ANAO, Audit Report, p 67. The National Health Data Dictionary contains the Australian National standard of data definitions recommended for use in Australian health data collections and the NMDS.

[18]     Health, The state of our public hospitals; Productivity Commission, Report on Government Services; Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Australian Hospital Statistics.

Chapter 6 Conclusion

[1]       Kalisch D, transcript, p 2.

[2]       HAA, The Blame Game.

[3]       Kalisch D, transcript 7.

[4]       Appendix C lists the powers of the auditors-general to conduct performance audits, p 41.

[5]       www.anao.gov.au/uploads/documents/Audit_Work_Programme.pdf

Appendix B – Relevant recommendations in The Blame Game report

[1]       House of Representatives Standing Committee on Health and Ageing, The Blame Game:: Report on the inquiry into health funding, Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, 2006.

Appendix C - State and Territory Auditors-General

[1]       Private briefing.

[2]       Queensland Audit Office, private memo, 10 May 07: Auditor-General of Queensland does not undertake performance audits, but audits of performance management systems.  There is however a close but subtle difference… In summary, the Queensland Auditor-General can provide an opinion on whether an agency’s performance management system allows it to assess whether its objectives are being achieved economically, efficiently and effectively, and whether the performance measures associated with these systems are relevant and appropriate and fairly represent the entity’s performance.  A performance audit mandate is different as it would require the Auditor-General to provide an opinion on the performance of a public sector entity in terms of meeting its objectives economically, efficiently and effectively.

[3]       Such audits are also known as ‘value for money (or performance) audits’. Methodology encompass:  Planning; Fact Gathering; Quality Control; Forming Provisional Conclusions; Natural Justice/Procedural Fairness; Processes Reporting – refer http://www.audit.sa.gov.au/rolehtm

[4]       ANAO Audit Report, Appendix 1, p 71.

Appendix D – Sample Australian Health Care Agreement

[1]       The funding formula is essentially the same for each state and territory.  Formula is at Schedule G of each of the eight AHCAs.  The exceptions are South Australia (SA) and Queensland (QLD).  SA gets a payment related to Woomera and QLD gets a payment relating to the Torres Strait.  Application of the formula results in different funding amounts flowing to the states and territories – indexation factors in the formula vary according to variables like population and age of population.  [DHA information provided 26 July 07.]

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