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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 3 Hansard (23 October) . . Page.. 4107 ..

Are the figures provided in your reply to (3) an average for the financial years 2001-02 and 2002-03. If so, as asked in the original question, can you now provide the figures for each year;

Is the ACT losing out in terms of cross border payments from NSW if the estimated cost of services to patients outside the ACT in 2001-02 was $60 million but only $40.615 million was returned to the Territory from NSW;

Why are only provisional payments made until reconciliation against actual activity for cross border residents, what data is looked at in reconciling 'actual activity' and how does this differ from the data you use to arise at the figure of $60 million for patients who live outside the ACT.

Mr Corbell

The figures provided in the reply to (3) were the actual provisional payments for those years.

The $60 million figure represents the cost of treating all patients from outside the ACT, not just NSW patients.

In addition, the payments for NSW are reduced for the approximately $7 million worth of activity annually provided by NSW for ACT residents in NSW hospitals.

In negotiating the cross border agreement in 2000, the ACT argued that the price paid by NSW was insufficient to meet ACT costs. The independent arbiter appointed to adjudicate between the ACT and NSW did not accept this argument. The government believes that what NSW pays does not meet full ACT costs.

Payment is made provisionally, as determined by the 2000 arbitrated agreement. Payment on actual patient activity requires finalisation of hospital activity data in both jurisdictions. Finalising that data is a prolonged process, because of the length of time inherent in receiving, checking, correcting and publishing hospital data.

Provisional payment is made because delaying payment until

actual activity data are available would leave the ACT severely

under-funded until final activity could be determined.

Admitted patient care data provided to ACT Health and NSW Health by their respective hospitals is used to calculate actual activity. Reconciliation payments for that activity are based on cost weights derived for the National Hospital Cost Data Collection. Admitted patient care data and National Hospital Cost Data Collection cost weights are accepted nationally as the appropriate tools for reconciling cross border payments.

ACT public hospital activity data, and ACT public hospital cost data submitted to the National Hospital Cost Data Collection were used to estimate the costs incurred by the ACT for NSW residents.

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