Will this make a difference to our hospitals?

[donniedarko]

Several headlines today about the decision of the states to agree on a key platform of the national health reform, the national health performance authority.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011 ... 238070.htm

This authority is the key in Roxon's reform plan - watch this space to see if the $16 billion reform actually makes a difference to public hospitals and healthcare.

[Rainbow Moonlight]

I don't know if it will help or not. I have some doubts.

[lisa jones]

These measures won't help the NSW hospital system.

[donniedarko]

You may have seen news yesterday about Gold Coast hospital refusing to accept a GP referral (for a patient to see a gastroenterologist), on the basis that they wouldn't be able to see him in time.

Now, if the National Health Performance Authority (or similar proxy) introduces stricter performance indicators (ie shorter waiting times to see a specialist ) then this sort of thing will surely happen more frequently, as hospitals strive to meet targets in order to secure funding.

Either that, or their is potential for gaming to occur, and possible manipulation of performance data to eradicate outliers.