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 Territory contribution to the funding of public hospital services and functions is calculated on an activity basis or provided as Block funding in accordance with the National Health Reform Agreement – Addendum 2020-25 and one-year extension for 2025-26.
The Territory determines the amount they pay for public hospital services and functions and the mix of those services and functions and will meet the balance of the cost of delivering public hospital services and functions over and above the Commonwealth contribution.
Territory funding paid on an activity basis for each service category is based on the price set by that Territory (which is reported in the Service Agreement) and the volume of weighted services as set out in the Service Agreement.
To provide consistency in methodology and with the Addendum to the National Health Reform Agreement 2020-25 and one-year extension for 2025-26, the ACT funding model has implemented the National Efficient Price (NEP25) and National Weighted Activity Unit (NWAU25) as the currency for Activity Based Funding (ABF) facility. The Territory also provides an overlay of supplementary grants in recognition of the Territory reporting higher average costs than the NEP25.
The National Efficient Cost (NEC25) Block funding model is used for small hospitals, transitional funding for community mental health, non‑admitted home ventilation and teaching, training and research provided in hospitals.
The Territory determines when payments are made into the Pool and State managed fund. Payments are made from the Pool account to the Australian Capital Territory Health Directorate (ACT Health Directorate) and State managed fund in accordance with the Service Agreement agreed between the Australian Capital Territory Minister for Health and the Director-General of the ACT Health Directorate ('System Manager').
The Territory also makes payments for activities outside the scope of the National Health Reform Agreement. Out-of-scope activities are defined as those public hospital services with a funding source other than the NHRA.
The Australian Capital Territory Minister for Health and the ACT Health Directorate can agree amendments to the Service Agreement to adjust service volumes or pricing to take account of such matters as changing health needs, variations in actual service delivery and hospital performance.
The Service Agreement is available at https://www.act.gov.au/open/act-local-hospital-network-service-level-agreements(Opens in a new tab/window).
Further information regarding the Basis for National Health Reform payments in both 2025-26 and previous financial years is included at www.publichospitalfunding.gov.au.
