St Vincent's Health Network report, March 2014

In this report

This report includes the following tables:

• NHR payments to the St Vincent's Health Network
  • Table 1a – NHR payments – St Vincent's Health Network, March 2014
  • Table 1b – NHR payments YTD – St Vincent's Health Network, March 2014
• Estimated monthly, YTD and annual NWAU
  • Table 2 – Estimated monthly, YTD and annual NWAU – St Vincent's Health Network, March 2014

This report is issued by the Administrator of the National Health Funding Pool under section 240 of the National Health Reform Act 2011.

This report is prepared on a cash basis. It shows the National Health Reform (NHR) payments made by the Commonwealth and New South Wales to the St Vincent's Health Network for March 2014 as part of the National Health Reform Agreement.

The St Vincent's Health Network is the local hospital network covering the auspices of the Sisters of Charity Health Service in Sydney. See St Vincent's Health Network public hospitals and service providers.

Local hospital networks and National Health Reform

A local hospital network (LHN) is an organisation that provides public hospital services in accordance with the National Health Reform Agreement (the Agreement). An LHN can contain one or more hospitals, and is usually defined as a business group, geographical area or community. Every Australian public hospital is part of an LHN.

Note: The term 'local hospital network' is a national term. Some states and territories use their own local terminology to describe these networks, such as local health districts, health organisations, and hospital and health services.

Under the Agreement, LHNs receive NHR funding for the following public hospital services:

• All admitted and non-admitted services
• All emergency department services provided by a recognised emergency department
• Other outpatient, mental health, sub-acute and other services that could reasonably be considered a public hospital service.

Note: LHNs also receive funding from other sources, including the Commonwealth, states and territories, and third parties for the provision of other specific functions and services outside the scope of the Agreement, for example, dental services, primary care, home and community care, residential aged care and pharmaceuticals. For further information on total funding to a particular LHN, contact the Department of Health in the relevant state or territory to view the service agreement for that local hospital network.

Reference information

The data in this report can be viewed in conjunction with information shown on the MyHospitals website (www.myhospitals.gov.au) (external link, opens in a new window) [http://www.myhospitals.gov.au] which provides information on hospitals throughout Australia.

The financial information outlined in this report represents NHR payments. NHR payments are when NHR funding that has been deposited into a state pool account or state managed fund is paid out of the state pool account by the Administrator, or is paid out of the state managed fund by the state or territory.

For the basis of NHR payments, see the Basis for National Health Reform payments explanation in the New South Wales report, March 2014.

For the basis of the Commonwealth contribution to NHR funding, see Basis of Commonwealth NHR funding 2013-14.

NHR payments to the St Vincent's Health Network

Table 1a – NHR payments – St Vincent's Health Network, March 2014

This table shows the NHR payments made by the Commonwealth and New South Wales to the St Vincent's Health Network by service category and contribution for March 2014.

The table shows for each service category, payments to the LHN and the Commonwealth and state or territory contributions for each service category. For further information on total funding to a particular LHN, contact the Department of Health in the relevant state or territory to view the service agreement for that LHN.

Service category	Total NHR payments (ex GST)	GST	Commonwealth NHR payments (ex GST)	State/territory NHR payments (ex GST)
	($)	($)	($)	($)
Acute admitted - public	8,170,329	0	3,770,440	4,399,889
Acute admitted - private	2,022,836	0	933,498	1,089,339
Admitted mental health	679,177	0	313,426	365,751
Sub-acute	1,827,318	0	843,270	984,048
Emergency department	1,662,302	0	767,118	895,183
Non-admitted	3,599,904	0	1,661,282	1,938,622
Total ABF payments (Pool)	17,961,867	0	8,289,035	9,672,832
Small rural hospitals	0	0
Teaching, training & research	1,004,125	0
Non-admitted mental health	451,875	0
Other non-admitted services	0	0
Total Block payments (SMF)	1,456,000	0
Total NHR Payments	19,417,867	0

See explanatory notes following table 1b.

Table 1b – NHR payments YTD – St Vincent's Health Network, March 2014

Following on from table 1a, this table shows year-to-date (YTD) NHR payments to the St Vincent's Health Network by service category, and contributions made by the Commonwealth and New South Wales by service category as at March 2014

Service category	Total NHR payments YTD (ex GST)	GST YTD	Commonwealth NHR payments YTD (ex GST)	State/territory NHR payments YTD (ex GST)
	($)	($)	($)	($)
Acute admitted - public	78,751,913	0	34,078,611	44,673,302
Acute admitted - private	19,497,649	0	8,437,291	11,060,358
Admitted mental health	6,546,433	0	2,832,863	3,713,571
Sub-acute	17,613,092	0	7,621,780	9,991,313
Emergency department	16,022,543	0	6,933,495	9,089,048
Non-admitted	34,698,646	0	15,015,276	19,683,371
Total ABF payments (Pool)	173,130,277	0	74,919,315	98,210,962
Small rural hospitals	0	0
Teaching, training & research	12,466,167	0
Non-admitted mental health	5,610,016	0
Other non-admitted services	0	0
Total Block payments (SMF)	18,076,183	0
Total NHR Payments	191,206,460	0

Total ABF payments (Pool) represents NHR payments made by the Administrator from the state pool account to the LHN.

Total Block payments (SMF) represents NHR payments made by the state or territory from the state managed fund (SMF) to the LHN.

Note: The grey shaded areas in the table above reflect that block payments made to LHNs cannot at this stage be identified by source of funding (state, territory or Commonwealth) when paid from state managed funds.

Payments in these tables are GST exclusive. The majority of government funding to LHNs is not subject to GST. However in some cases, hospital funding to non-government entities does attract GST, for example, denominational hospitals, privately and commercially owned health facilities, or any other non-government third party provider of health services or related supplies.

For the basis of NHR payments, see the Basis for National Health Reform payments explanation in the New South Wales report, March 2014.

Estimated monthly, YTD and annual NWAU

States and territories provide service volume estimates at the start of each financial year, and if required, can continue to refine these estimates during the course of the year. These estimates form the basis of monthly reporting of service volumes until actual service numbers become available. These estimates are expressed as National Weighted Activity Units (NWAU).

New South Wales provided estimated annual NWAU for the the St Vincent's Health Network to the Administrator as a basis for determining the Commonwealth activity-based funding. Current month NWAU estimates accumulate through the year-to-date NWAU, to be equal to the annual NWAU at the end of the financial year.

Table 2 – Estimated monthly, YTD and annual NWAU – St Vincent's Health Network, March 2014

This table shows the estimated activity for activity-based funding services expressed as NWAU for March 2014, the associated year-to-date (YTD) NWAU, and total estimated annual NWAU for the St Vincent's Health Network.

Activity based funding (ABF) service category	Estimated NWAU delivered in current month	Estimated NWAU delivered YTD	Estimated annual NWAU 2013-14
Acute admitted - public	2,358	21,220	*
Acute admitted - private	584	5,254	*
Admitted mental health	196	1,764	*
Sub-acute	527	4,746	*
Emergency department	480	4,317	*
Non-admitted	1,039	9,350	*
Total	5,183	46,650	62,200

* Information not provided by New South Wales.

An NWAU is a measure of health service activity expressed as a common unit. It provides a way of comparing and valuing each public hospital service, whether they are admissions, emergency department presentations or outpatient episodes, by weighting them for their clinical complexity. The average hospital service is worth one NWAU - the most intensive and expensive activities are worth multiple NWAU, the simplest and least expensive are worth fractions of an NWAU.

Monthly NHR payments relate to the cash needs of public hospitals and do not necessarily reflect the volume of services to be delivered in the month.

For more information on the NWAU calculation, see Calculation of NWAU.

For the basis of NHR payments, see the Basis for National Health Reform payments explanation in the New South Wales report, March 2014.

St Vincent's Health Network public hospitals and service providers

The St Vincent's Health Network is the local hospital network covering the auspices of the Sisters of Charity Health Service in Sydney.

For the purposes of NHR public hospital funding arrangements, this LHN is made up of the following public hospitals and service providers:

• Sacred Heart Hospice
• St Joseph's Hospital
• St Vincent's Hospital