The Clinical Advisory Committee is a multidisciplinary group whose members have extensive clinical knowledge and skills across a wide range of areas.

The committee draws on this expertise and experience to provide advice in relation to IHPA’s program of work.

In 2019–20, the committee provided ongoing input to the Pricing Framework for Australian Public Hospital Services 2019–20, ensuring the Framework’s policies remained clinically relevant. The committee provided advice to allow IHPA to ensure National Efficient Price and National Efficient Cost Determinations for 2020–21 were fit for purpose.

This year we played a critical role in providing clinical input about the options for pricing and funding for the safety and quality reforms introduced in the 2017 Addendum to the National Health Reform Agreement. This included the continued participation of the joint working party with the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care.

The committee provided clinical advice on IHPA’s three proposed funding options for reducing avoidable hospital readmissions. The committee will continue to advise IHPA in this area, as the agency works on further analysis.

In 2019–20, the Clinical Advisory Committee continued its work advising on classification systems. The committee also contributed to the final review of the processes involved in the acute care classifications development.

Under the National Partnership on COVID-19 Response, IHPA issued classification and reporting rules to accurately capture COVID-19 episodes of care and COVID-19 related hospital activity on a nationally consistent basis. Committee members provided feedback to ensure that the rules and advice were clinically sound.

The committee members continued to promote the WRITEitRIGHT® mobile application, which enables accurate clinical documentation by clinicians and health information managers.

My sincere thanks to my fellow committee members for their meaningful contribution and thoughtful consideration of the complex and at times highly technical issues over the past year. I deeply appreciate their commitment to improving efficiency, accountability and transparency across the public healthcare system.

On behalf of the Clinical Advisory Committee, I acknowledge and commend the Pricing Authority, the IHPA Chief Executive Officer and staff for delivering a successful program of work in 2019–20.

I look forward to continuing to lead the work of the Clinical Advisory Committee in the coming year, and welcome the opportunity to support the agency to drive its strategic agenda in the year ahead.

Associate Professor Alasdair MacDonald
Chair, Clinical Advisory Committee
2 October 2020