Activity based funding: Emergency service care DSS 2013-2014

Identifying and definitional attributes

• Independent Hospital Pricing Authority, Standard 31/10/2012

The scope of this DSS is emergency services provided in activity based funded hospitals which do not meet any of the following criteria:

• Purposely designated and equipped area with designated assessment; treatment and resuscitation areas.
• Ability to provide resuscitation, stabilisation and initial management of all emergencies.
• Availability of medical staff available in the hospital 24 hours a day.
• Designated emergency department nursing staff and nursing unit manager 24 hours per day 7 days per week.

The care provided to patients in emergency services/urgent care centres is, in most instances, recognised as being provided to non-admitted patients. Patients being treated in emergency services/urgent care centres may subsequently become admitted. The care provided to non-admitted patients who are treated in the emergency services/urgent care centres prior to being admitted is included in this DSS.

The scope also includes services where patient did not wait or died on arrival. Patients with Department of Veterans' Affairs or compensable funding source are also included in the scope of the collection.

Excluded from the scope are:

• Care provided to patients who are being treated in emergency services/urgent care centres as an admitted patient (e.g. in an observation unit, short-stay unit, emergency services ward or awaiting a bed in an admitted patient ward of the hospital).
• Care provided to patients in General Practitioner co-located units.

Collection and usage attributes

Emergency department stay.

National reporting arrangements

State and territory health authorities provide the data to the Independent Hospital Pricing Authority (IHPA) for national collection, on a quarterly basis as required under national health reform arrangements.

Periods for which data are collected and nationally collated

Financial years ending 30 June each year.

Quarterly data collection commencing 1 July each year.

Scope links with other metadata sets

Episodes of care for admitted patients are reported through the Admitted patient care NMDS.

Some previous data element concepts are available in the METeOR glossary. Glossary items are available online through links in the relevant metadata items. In addition, links to the glossary terms that are relevant to this data set specification are listed below.

Activity based funding

Emergency department

Source and reference attributes

Relational attributes