| In 1978 the Commonwealth Government, following a joint management review (JMR) undertaken by WD Scott on behalf of the then Commonwealth Department of Health, the Commonwealth Public Service Board and the Australian Bureau of Statistics, examined Australia’s need for regular national health expenditure statistics. The JMR recommended that the Commonwealth report health expenditure estimates based, essentially, on a method adopted by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The WHO method was similar to one developed by Dr John Deeble of the Institute of Applied Economic Research at the University of Melbourne in the 1960s. Deeble produced triennial estimates of health expenditure for 1960–61; 1963–64 and 1977–67. The first reports following the tabling of the report of the JMR were for the year 1974–75 and they were produced by the Commonwealth Department of Health’s Policy and Planning Division.
In 1985, the Australian Institute of Health (AIH) was established and one of its responsibilities was to produce the annual health expenditure estimates. In 1987, the AIH was renamed the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and it continued to produce the annual estimates based on the National Health Accounts (NHA) framework recommended by the JMR in the 1970s. As a consequence, Australia has a national health expenditure time series dating from 1960–61, which is based on the NHA framework. In 1996–97 subsidiary time series for each Australian state and territory was begun. This also is based on the NHA framework.
In 2000 the Institute adopted the International Classification of Health Accounts (ICHA) developed by the OECD and adopted by WHO as the basis for international reporting of health expenditure. Currently Australia’s ICHA time series is available on both a national and a sub-national basis covering all years from 1998-99 to
2002-03.
Network
Focal Points
Mr
Tony Hynes
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
Mrs Lindy
Ingham
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
Available documents
Links
|
|
.