The scope of the Local Hospital Networks/Public hospital establishments national minimum data set (LHN/PHE NMDS) includes three levels of hierarchical reporting:
The Public hospital establishments (PHE) component includes establishment-level data for public acute and psychiatric hospitals, and alcohol and drug treatment centres. Hospitals specialising in dental, ophthalmic aids and other specialised acute medical or surgical care are also included in PHE. Hospitals operated by the Australian Defence Force, correctional authorities and Australia's external territories are not included.
The Local Hospital Networks (LHN) excludes data for hospital establishments which are already reported through the Public hospital establishments component. Local Hospital Networks are defined as those entities recognised as such by the relevant state or territory health authority.
At the jurisdictional level, all public hospital services that are managed by a state or territory health authority and are included in the General List of In-Scope Public Hospital Services Eligibility Policy (IHACPA 2022c), which has been developed under the National Health Reform Agreement (2011) (NHRA) (COAG 2011) and excluding data which are already reported in the PHE or LHN levels.
Collection and usage attributes
Statistical unit:
PHE, LHN or health authority (depending on reporting level)
Guide for use:
The following are principles of the collection. States and territories should consider these principles when providing data.
Data should be reported by states and territories at the level relevant to service management and/or provision.
The LHN/PHE NMDS should capture and differentiate between in-scope and out-of-scope of the NHRA.
The LHN/PHE NMDS must specify where financial data elements are reporting actual data and where they are reporting estimated data.
Where possible, the LHN/PHE NMDS should align with the Government health expenditure NMDS (GHE NMDS), so it is able to function as a subset of the GHE NMDS if required.
Reporting on expenditure relating to contracted care requires less detail than other expenditure and activity.
Where possible, the changes to the PHE component of the NMDS should maintain the ability to report time series data from previous years.
Similar data for private hospitals and free-standing day hospital facilities for PHE was collected by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in the Private Health Establishments Collection, up to and including 2016-17, at which point collection of this data ceased.
Recurrent expenditure and related revenue data reported to the LHN/PHE NMDS should reconcile with published financial statements.
Actual recurrent expenditure and related revenue data are expected to be reported at the level at which they appear in the general ledger, regardless of whether all components are a 'public hospital service' under the NHRA. Expenditure and revenue data are not expected to be apportioned to a lower level.
The total recurrent expenditure by product stream should equal the total recurrent expenditure by general ledger line item.
For the purposes of the LHN/PHE NMDS, funding from the Australian Government, state and territory health authorities and other state and territory government departments is considered to be revenue and should be reported as such.
Collection methods:
Some data for this NMDS are sourced from the state or territory health authority general ledger. Some other data are maintained at the LHN or hospital and are forwarded to the relevant state or territory health authority for inclusion.
National reporting arrangements
State and territory health authorities provide the data to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare for national collation, on an annual basis.
Periods for which data are collected and nationally collated
Financial years ending 30 June each year.
Implementation start date:
01/07/2023
Implementation end date:
30/06/2024
Comments:
Relationship between the three components
The three levels of the hierarchy work together to collect the same types of recurrent expenditure and related revenue data items, but at different levels of the system. The reporting levels are mutually exclusive, so there should be no overlap in the reporting or expenditure and revenue data across the levels.
Hierarchical level
Data collected through
Public hospital establishments
PHE component
Local Hospital Network
LHN component
State or territory health authority
State or territory component
It is expected that recurrent expenditure and related revenue data will be reported at the level at which they occur.
For services 'managed by a state or territory health authority', only those services considered to be 'public hospital services' under the NHRA are in scope. For the public hospitals and LHNs, all activity, expenditure and related revenue in the General Ledger for that organisation would be in scope of this NMDS, regardless of whether all components are a 'public hospital service' under the NHRA.
For information on public hospital services in-scope or out-of-scope, refer to the National Efficient Price Determination (IHACPA 2022a) and the National Efficient Cost Determination (IHACPA 2022b).
In addition to the shared expenditure and revenue data items, the PHE component includes items such as establishment location, establishment type and specialised service indicators that do not appear in the other components.
Scope links with other NMDSs
The LHN/PHE NMDS shares scope with other hospital NMDSs and NBEDSs as well as other establishment and expenditure collections:
Admitted patient care NMDS
Alcohol and other drug treatment services NMDS
Government health expenditure NMDS
Mental health establishments NMDS
Non-admitted patient care hospital aggregate NBEDS
Non-admitted patient emergency department care NMDS.
Glossary items
Glossary terms that are relevant to this data set specification are included here:
