AMA submission on the Pricing Framework for Australian Public Hospital Services 2019-20

The AMA lodged a submission to the Independent Hospital Pricing Authority’s (IHPA) Pricing Framework for Australian Public Hospital Services 2019-2020.  The Pricing Framework is the primary consultation mechanisms used to seek feedback on proposed reforms to activity-based pricing.  We called for IHPA to urgently review the current safety and quality penalties in light of the lack of evidence to support its efficacy.  We opposed new amendments to the national efficient price that ratchet up financial pressure on public hospitals to do more with less when public hospitals are already struggling with access block and new costs to digitise their information systems, implement innovative models of care to reduce hospital presentations and strategies to improve safety and quality.