The 2012 Budget Will Be Critical for E-Health. What Will Happen Is Anyone’s Guess.

The Federal Budget for 2012/2013 is due to be released in May 8, 2012. That is just 15 days away.

There are a number of reasons why it will be critical for e-Health going forward.

As background we know.

1. The Government is desperate to achieve a Budget Surplus and this will mean about $40 Billion in savings are needed as opposed to 2011/2012.

2. This is a fiscal contraction of the order of 2% of GDP and so it will hurt - no matter how executed and what attempts are made to diminish the impact.

3. There are a lot of smart economists that it might be more sensible to say just bring the deficit down to $20 Billion this year and then finish the job the year after to avoid too much pain.

From a specific e-Health perspective we know.

1. Funding for the NEHRS comes to a sudden end June 30, 2012 unless renewed.

2. Funding for associated infrastructure, the wave sites and so on has the same drop dead date.

3. NEHTA’s annual budget of about $100 Million also stops at June, 30, 2012 unless renewed.

4. At the last Council of Australian Government meeting a week or two back there was no mention of e-Health or NEHTA.

Here are the links to what was decided:

Council of Australian Governments Meeting - 13 April 2012, Canberra

COAG Communiqué

• COAG Communiqué: 13 April 2012 – DOC 74KB | PDF 124KB
• Attachment A: High-level Principles for a National Disability Insurance Scheme – DOC 144KB | PDF 66KB
• Attachment B: Progress Report: Building a National Disability Insurance Scheme – DOC 82KB | PDF 95KB
• Attachment C: Projects under the National Partnership Agreement Supporting National Mental Health Reform – DOC 50KB | PDF 79KB

Related Documents

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Skills Reform

• National Partnership Agreement on Skills Reform – PDF 11.22KB
• Revised National Agreement for Skills and Workforce Development – DOC 40KB | PDF 124KB

Progress on Seamless National Economy Reforms

• BRCWG Report Card on Progress of Deregulation Priorities – DOC 34KB | PDF 68KB
• Public Report to COAG on Competition Reforms Under the Seamless National Economy Reforms – DOC 177KB | PDF 55KB
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• National Partnership Agreement Supporting National Mental Health Reform – PDF 8.89MB

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• Remote Service Delivery National Partnership Agreement: Annual Report to COAG 2010-11 – PDF 565KB
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Last Updated:  16 April, 2012

This is the web site:

http://www.coag.gov.au/coag_meeting_outcomes/2012-04-13/index.cfm

Simply not a mention of e-Health or anything even close. Given there seem to be only 2-3 meetings a year which could fund NEHTA (It is a joint State / Federal effort) the signs for June 30 can’t be seen as great unless NEHTA is suddenly going to be transferred to the Federal Budget.

It seems to me that to have the basic infrastructure work continue (Identifiers, NASH, SNOMED, AMT, Supply Chain etc.) that $50-100 million p.a. is needed.

To press on with the NEHRS (Wave Sites, Clinician Incentive Payments, Software Vendor Payments, NASH Tokens and so on) there has to be another $100 million +.

To see an overall $200 million p.a. being provided - without business cases and any evidence of the e-Health program having actually made a difference - in these difficult times seems a pretty big ask.

Frankly I don’t think it will happen. What do others think?

David.