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Federal
Corporate Commonwealth Entity
Health and Aged Care

Independent Health and Aged Care Pricing Authority

Portfolio: Health, Disability and Ageing

https://www.ihacpa.gov.au/

Annual Budget

$48M

2026-27 Budget (Budget Paper No. 4)
-19.0%vs prior year ($59M)
Total Revenue

$25M

2024-25 Total Revenue
Staff

80

Headcount (2024-25)
Budget Commentary

Notable downward shift in 2026-27 funding (-19.0%, $11M change). 2025-26 estimated actual $59M → 2026-27 budget $48M. Source: Budget Paper No. 4, Agency Resourcing tables.

Major Digital Projects
20

Aged Care Transformation Program - Support at Home

Department of Health, Disability and Ageing

Tier 1
DCA: Medium-High
Active

Total Budget

$705.9M

Digital Budget

$174.7M

January 2022June 2026

A new program called Support at Home brings together some in-home aged care programs from 1 November 2025. Under the Support at Home program, there will be improved access to services, products, equipment and home modifications to help older people to remain healthy, active, and socially connected to their community.

Aged Care Transformation Program – New Aged Care Act

Department of Health, Disability and Ageing

Tier 1
DCA: Medium-High
Active

Total Budget

$692.8M

Digital Budget

$692.8M

July 2023June 2027

This project involves the design and delivery of the business and digital projects requirements to support the implementation and operationalisation of the Aged Care Act 2024.

Data and Regulatory Transformation (DART) Program

NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission

Tier 1
DCA: Medium
Active

Total Budget

$160.3M

Digital Budget

$85.9M

July 2024June 2028

The DART Program will transform the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission data and technology systems to support new ways of working that will sustainably address issues experienced by NDIS participants, providers and workers. The DART Program aims to establish essential, risk-based regulatory capabilities that meet the Commission’s current and future legislative obligations, safeguard participants, ensure market quality and proactively manage compliance.

Reduce Waste and Combat Fraud – Crack Down on Fraud

National Disability Insurance Agency

Tier 1
DCA: High
Active

Total Budget

$194.3M

Digital Budget

$194.3M

January 2024December 2025

The Crack Down on Fraud program will boost fraud-detecting IT systems to better protect monies allocated to Australians living with disability who are on the NDIS. The investment will complement the work of the Fraud Fusion Taskforce to respond to areas of vulnerability in NDIS systems. The program includes a number of ICT improvements that will be implemented progressively and are designed to make it easier to get it right, and harder to get it wrong for everyone engaging with the NDIS

Establishing an Australian Centre for Disease Control (CDC)

Department of Health, Disability and Ageing

Tier 2
DCA: High
Active

Total Budget

$26.4M

Digital Budget

$3.6M

January 2025January 2027

This project presents a 3-pronged approach to establishing data capability for the Australian CDC. This includes: exploratory work for a national public health surveillance system; design of nationally consistent public health data, analytics and decision-support through a Public Health Data Network (Data Network); introduction of a public health data stewardship function to facilitate national coordination in public health action; and the development of in-house capabilities for advanced analytics within the Australian CDC to provide timely, accurate decision-support across CDC functions.

Next Phase of the National Disability Data Asset (NDDA)

Department of Health, Disability and Ageing

Tier 2
DCA: Medium
Active

Total Budget

$87.7M

Digital Budget

$53.6M

January 2022June 2027

The project will establish an enduring NDDA of linked, de-identified data, leveraging multiple Australian, state and territory government service systems and surveys to provide insights on the outcomes of people with disability and their pathways through services.

One Stop Shop for Clinical Trials and Human Research

Department of Health, Disability and Ageing

Tier 2
DCA: Medium-High
Active

Total Budget

$32.4M

Digital Budget

$17.2M

July 2024June 2029

The development of the National One Stop Shop ICT platform underpins the Australian Government’s health and medical policy reform agenda. The platform will provide a single, end-to-end workflow for the research lifecycle of first contact between a research sponsor and a research site, through pre- and post-ethical approval and authorisation processes, regulatory requirements, participant recruitment and research management, to post-research monitoring and the publication of results. The common workflow will facilitate business processes of key Commonwealth agencies, and the next generation World Health Organization (WHO) compliant clinical trials and research registry, to provide a public-facing website with simplified and enhanced search functionality for the community. The reforms are supported by commitment between all jurisdictions under the Revitalised Clinical Trials Agenda, and the Encouraging More Clinical Trials in Australia measure, and agreement on the platform solution that will streamline and harmonise administration and regulation nationally, and make it easier to find and conduct health and medical research.

Alternative Clinical Arrangements for Facilities Unable to Meet a Registered Nurse Onsite Requirement

Department of Health, Disability and Ageing

Tier 3
Closed

Total Budget

$31.2M

Digital Budget

$9.9M

December 2023May 2025

This project developed and tested a Virtual Nursing Framework in 30 residential aged care homes. Evaluation of the project will build evidence on use of virtual nursing in residential aged care settings.

Continued COVID-19 support for aged care

Department of Health, Disability and Ageing

Tier 3
Closed

Total Budget

$317.4M

Digital Budget

$6.7M

January 2024June 2024

The primary goal of this project was to continue a range of COVID-19 outbreak management supports. The digital/ICT component funding was secured to implement a new Emergency Management Portal to replace the existing COVID-19 Support Portal. Discovery and design and re-costing for the project resulted in the decision that the project was no longer value for money and it did not proceed beyond this phase.

Enhanced Regulatory Model for Vaping Products

Department of Health, Disability and Ageing

Tier 3
Active

Total Budget

$433.6M

Digital Budget

$31.1M

November 2023June 2027

The project is implementing an enhanced regulatory model for vaping, to regulate the importation, domestic manufacture, supply, commercial possession and advertisement of vaping goods, including nicotine vaping products. The reforms are part of a broader effort to reduce smoking and vaping rates through stronger legislation, enforcement, education and support. The primary goal of the digital component is to uplift digital processes to support the new vaping reform legislation. The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) introduced a bespoke sponsor notification scheme to facilitate lawful access to therapeutic vapes. The project will support the digital infrastructure to enable sponsors to provide compliance declarations to the TGA in a timely manner, and enhance systems to enable staff to conduct post-market reviews and manage compliance priorities. As part of efforts to address black market vape sales, the TGA is currently investigating enhancements of existing compliance management systems and greater data sharing capacity with partner law enforcement agencies (such as Australian Border Force).

Ensuring Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety for All Australians

Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency

Tier 3
Active

Total Budget

$2.5M

Digital Budget

$2.5M

February 2023December 2026

Phase 1 (completed) developed a self-service portal to enable customers of the agency’s Personal Radiation Monitoring Service to access a range of online capabilities to enhance the customer experience. Phase 2 (underway) is developing a laboratory information management system to improve internal workflow efficiency.

Establish a National Worker Registration Scheme for Aged Care

Department of Health, Disability and Ageing

Tier 3
Active

Total Budget

$35.1M

Digital Budget

$17.9M

January 2021June 2028

This project is enabling the government’s commitment to establish a national worker registration scheme. The project includes delivery of an ICT solution that expands the existing National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) worker screening system to include aged care worker screening. The expanded ICT system will create a national approach to worker screening for aged care providers, with ongoing monitoring of exclusion to better protect older people.

Establish the Inspector-General of Aged Care and the Office of the Inspector-General of Aged Case as a Statutory Agency

Office of the Inspector-General of Aged Care

Tier 3
Active

Total Budget

$25.2M

Digital Budget

$25.2M

November 2022June 2026

This project has established the Office of the Inspector General of Aged Care (OIGAC), following a recommendation from the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety. The project includes delivery of ICT platforms and processes to ensure the OIGAC has the foundational infrastructure to support its function, with work split across 4 key workstreams: • Stream 1 Case Management • Stream 2 Shared Services • Stream 3 Website • Stream 4 Data and Analytics.

Funding Digital Capability and Sustainment of Aged Care Systems - My Health Record (MHR) Integration

Department of Health, Disability and Ageing

Tier 3
Closed

Total Budget

$21.7M

Digital Budget

$9.6M

October 2023December 2024

The investment was to finalise the delivery of an integrated solution, allowing the sharing of aged care information with the health sector via My Health Record.

Funding for the Regulation of Medicinal Cannabis - Cost Recovery Model Update and Office of Drug Control Business Transformation

Department of Health, Disability and Ageing

Tier 3
Active

Total Budget

$3.5M

Digital Budget

$2.9M

July 2023August 2026

The project supports the transformation of the Office of Drug Control business processes and ICT/digital systems. Prior reliance on outdated and inefficient manual business processes impacted Australia’s legal narcotics industry. This project will implement the outcomes of a 2022 review, to modernise systems to ensure they can support the industry and compliance activity, as well as aligning with other regulators’ digital transformation systems.

Integrated Aged Care Information and Intelligence – Risk Based Targeting and Information Sharing (RBTIS)

Department of Health, Disability and Ageing

Tier 3
Active

Total Budget

$37.8M

Digital Budget

$25.5M

January 2024June 2027

The department has developed a RBTIS program of work to enable the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission to better target its regulation of aged care providers (both residential aged care and home care) that are at risk of failing to provide quality care. The system achieves this by extracting different data elements from over a dozen major sources into information sharing dashboards.

Investing in a modernised My Health Record to drive a digitally connected healthcare system for all Australians

Australian Digital Health Agency

Tier 3
Active

Total Budget

$64.2M

Digital Budget

$64.2M

September 2023June 2026

The project will establish a new national repository service to improve the My Health Record system, aligned with the contemporary health industry data standard Health Level 7 (HL7) Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR). This will drive a digitally connected healthcare system for all Australians, and supports use of mobile apps, in line with the National Digital Health Strategy 2023–2028. The vision is to enable a contemporary capability for My Health Record, as a foundation for the healthcare modernisation journey, which will increase value to customers and healthcare providers accessing data.

Residential Aged Care – Linking Care Funding to Care Minute Delivery

Department of Health, Disability and Ageing

Tier 3
Active

Total Budget

$19.6M

Digital Budget

$9M

October 2024December 2026

This project will create a financial incentive for residential aged care providers to meet their mandatory care minutes targets by linking care minutes funding to care minutes delivery from 1 October 2025 in Modified Monash 1 (MM1) areas. To deliver this project, changes are required in aged care systems owned by the department and Services Australia, to add needed calculations and data fields to existing reporting tools. Linking funding to care delivery is the most effective, equitable and efficient policy lever available to government to bring about behaviour change from providers and is estimated to deliver a cumulative increase of 265 million more care minutes by the end of the forward estimates. It also ensures that government is not funding providers for care they are not delivering.

Response to the Final Report of the Capability Review of the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission – cyber uplift

Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission

Tier 3
Active

Total Budget

$69.4M

Digital Budget

$69.4M

January 2024June 2026

Cyber Uplift Phase 3 commenced in July 2025 with focus on Maturity uplift and Transition covering the following projects: 1. Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) / Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) / Centralised Log Ingestion (CLI) Foundations 2. Cyber Governance – Beyond Foundations 3. Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) Review and targeted uplift 4. Vulnerability Management – Beyond Foundations 5. Application Control Capability Implementation 6. Vulnerability Scanning Capability Implementation 7. Integrated Security Architecture

Setting the in Australian National Aged Care Classification (AN ACC) price for 2023–24 and ongoing residential care funding reform

Department of Health, Disability and Ageing

Tier 3
Active

Total Budget

$24.3M

Digital Budget

$16.3M

June 2023February 2026

This investment will support implementation of the government’s election commitment to fund the Fair Work Commission (FWC) decision for residential care aged care workers, and the annual adjustment in AN ACC funding to account for changes in aged care costs such as inflation. Necessary adjustments to the AN ACC referral, assessment and reporting functions in addition to a new hotelling supplement are also included. Progress is monitored by the Residential Aged Care Funding Reform Program Board.

Ideas relevant to this department

8 tagged

Reform proposals on YourGov that name this department as a delivery partner — drawn from citizen voice, government strategy, research, international examples and gap analysis.

STRATEGY SUMMARY

IHACPA’s role pertaining to pricing and funding for public hospital services includes: determining the national efficient price (NEP) for health care services provided by public hospitals where the services are funded on an activity basis; determining the national efficient cost (NEC) for health care services provided by public hospitals where the services are block funded; developing block funding criteria and determining which hospitals, services and functions are eligible for block funding or a combination of activity based funding (ABF) and block funding; developing and specifying classification systems for health care and other services provided by public hospitals; determining adjustments to the NEP to reflect legitimate and unavoidable variations in the costs of delivering health care services; determining data requirements and data and coding standards to apply in relation to data to be provided by jurisdictions, including: data and coding standards to support uniform provision of data; and requirements and standards relating to patient demographic characteristics and other information relevant to classifying, costing and paying for public hospital functions; except where otherwise agreed between the Commonwealth and a state or territory – determining the public hospital functions that are to be funded in the state or territory by the Commonwealth. IHACPA’s role pertaining to the provision of advice on aged care costing and pricing matters to the Australian Government Minister for Health and Aged Care includes: providing aged care pricing advice about changes in the cost of care and methods for calculating amounts of subsidies to be paid for aged care services, for consideration in Australian Government funding decisions; reviewing data, conducting studies and undertaking consultation for the purpose of providing aged care costing and pricing advice; performing such functions as conferred by the Aged Care Act 1997 (the Aged Care Act) or the Aged Care (Transitional Provisions) Act 1997; performing other functions relating to aged care (if any) specified in regulations; undertaking other actions incidental or conducive to the performance of the above functions. [CP p.6]

PURPOSE

IHACPA’s role pertaining to pricing and funding for public hospital services includes: determining the national efficient price (NEP) for health care services provided by public hospitals where the services are funded on an activity basis; determining the national efficient cost (NEC) for health care services provided by public hospitals where the services are block funded; developing block funding criteria and determining which hospitals, services and functions are eligible for block funding or a combination of activity based funding (ABF) and block funding; developing and specifying classification systems for health care and other services provided by public hospitals; determining adjustments to the NEP to reflect legitimate and unavoidable variations in the costs of delivering health care services; determining data requirements and data and coding standards to apply in relation to data to be provided by jurisdictions, including: data and coding standards to support uniform provision of data; and requirements and standards relating to patient demographic characteristics and other information relevant to classifying, costing and paying for public hospital functions; except where otherwise agreed between the Commonwealth and a state or territory – determining the public hospital functions that are to be funded in the state or territory by the Commonwealth. IHACPA’s role pertaining to the provision of advice on aged care costing and pricing matters to the Australian Government Minister for Health and Aged Care includes: providing aged care pricing advice about changes in the cost of care and methods for calculating amounts of subsidies to be paid for aged care services, for consideration in Australian Government funding decisions; reviewing data, conducting studies and undertaking consultation for the purpose of providing aged care costing and pricing advice; performing such functions as conferred by the Aged Care Act 1997 (the Aged Care Act) or the Aged Care (Transitional Provisions) Act 1997; performing other functions relating to aged care (if any) specified in regulations; undertaking other actions incidental or conducive to the performance of the above functions. [CP p.6]

Corporate Plan 2024-25 · p.6

Strategic priorities

· 6

1

Perform pricing functions

Corporate Plan 2024-25 · p.7
2

Refine and develop hospital and aged care activity classification systems

Corporate Plan 2024-25 · p.7
3

Refine and improve hospital and aged care costing

Corporate Plan 2024-25 · p.7
4

Determine data requirements and collect data

Corporate Plan 2024-25 · p.7
5

Investigate and make recommendations concerning cost-shifting and cross-border disputes

Corporate Plan 2024-25 · p.7
6

Conduct independent and transparent decision-making and engage with stakeholders

Corporate Plan 2024-25 · p.7

Outcomes

· 1

Outcome 1: Efficient and transparent pricing for public hospital services

IHACPA will develop the national efficient price (NEP) and national efficient cost (NEC) determinations for public hospital services, ensuring that these reflect the actual cost of delivering services and any legitimate and unavoidable variations in those costs. IHACPA will also develop pricing frameworks for Australian public hospital services and Australian residential aged care services, providing advice to inform Australian Government decisions on residential aged care and respite care funding. [CP p.7]

KEY ACTIVITIES

  • Development of the Pricing Framework for Australian Public Hospital Services 2025–26
  • Determination of in-scope public hospital services eligible for Commonwealth funding under the National Health Reform Agreement
  • National Efficient Price and National Efficient Cost Determinations for public hospital services 2025–26
  • Pricing and funding for safety and quality in the delivery of public hospital services
  • Forecast of the national efficient price for future years
  • Development of Pricing Frameworks for Australian Aged Care Services for 2025–26
  • Aged Care Pricing Advice 2025–26

Values

· 3

Independence

Transparency

Expertise

Performance measures

· 6

CodeMeasureTarget 2025-26Latest resultStatus

NEP01

National Efficient Price Determination

To develop the national efficient price (NEP) for public hospital services

Corporate Plan 2024-25 · p.9

Target met

Achieved

NEC01

National Efficient Cost Determination

To develop the national efficient cost (NEC) for public hospital services

Corporate Plan 2024-25 · p.9

Target met

Achieved

ACF01

Activity Classification Framework

To develop the activity classification framework for public hospital services

Corporate Plan 2024-25 · p.9

Target met

Achieved

DCR01

Data Collection Requirements

To determine data requirements and collect data for public hospital services

Corporate Plan 2024-25 · p.9

Target met

Achieved

SAF01

Safety and Quality Framework

To incorporate safety and quality reforms into the pricing and funding of public hospital services

Corporate Plan 2024-25 · p.9

Target met

Achieved

PRF01

Pricing Framework

To develop the pricing framework for Australian residential aged care services

Corporate Plan 2024-25 · p.9

Target met

Achieved

Source documents

· 13

Ideas distilled from this entity's strategy & evidence

· 8

Data & Performance

Enhance hospital pricing transparency

Implement a public-facing online portal for hospital pricing information to improve transparency and public trust.

Impact: Medium
Effort: High
Medium

2024-25.pages.jsonl

Regulation & Policy

Review aged care costing methodologies

Conduct a comprehensive review and update of aged care costing methodologies to ensure accuracy and fairness.

Impact: High
Effort: High
Large

2023-24.pdf

Data & Performance

Standardize hospital data collection

Standardize data collection processes across public hospitals to ensure consistency and accuracy.

Impact: Medium
Effort: Medium
Small

2024-25.pages.jsonl

Citizen Participation

Establish external consultation panel

Create an external panel of experts to provide independent advice on pricing and policy decisions.

Impact: Medium
Effort: Medium
Medium

2024-25.pages.jsonl

Risk & Assurance

Conduct hospital efficiency audits

Perform regular efficiency audits of public hospitals to identify and address waste and inefficiencies.

Impact: High
Effort: High
Large

2023-24.pdf

Strategy & Reform

Adopt international best practices

Implement best practices from international health systems to improve efficiency and outcomes.

Impact: Very High
Effort: High
Large

association-worldbank.org-governance.txt

Data & Performance

Develop real-time data dashboard

Create a real-time data dashboard for monitoring hospital and aged care performance metrics.

Impact: Medium
Effort: Medium
Small

2024-25.pages.jsonl

Regulation & Policy

Simulate new pricing models

Use simulation tools to test new pricing models before full implementation.

Impact: High
Effort: High
Large

2023-24.pdf

Data & Performance

Enhance hospital pricing transparency

Implement a public-facing online portal for hospital pricing information to improve transparency and public trust.

Impact: Medium
Effort: High
Medium

2024-25.pages.jsonl

Regulation & Policy

Review aged care costing methodologies

Conduct a comprehensive review and update of aged care costing methodologies to ensure accuracy and fairness.

Impact: High
Effort: High
Large

2023-24.pdf

Data & Performance

Standardize hospital data collection

Standardize data collection processes across public hospitals to ensure consistency and accuracy.

Impact: Medium
Effort: Medium
Small

2024-25.pages.jsonl

Citizen Participation

Establish external consultation panel

Create an external panel of experts to provide independent advice on pricing and policy decisions.

Impact: Medium
Effort: Medium
Medium

2024-25.pages.jsonl

Risk & Assurance

Conduct hospital efficiency audits

Perform regular efficiency audits of public hospitals to identify and address waste and inefficiencies.

Impact: High
Effort: High
Large

2023-24.pdf

Strategy & Reform

Adopt international best practices

Implement best practices from international health systems to improve efficiency and outcomes.

Impact: Very High
Effort: High
Large

association-worldbank.org-governance.txt

Data & Performance

Develop real-time data dashboard

Create a real-time data dashboard for monitoring hospital and aged care performance metrics.

Impact: Medium
Effort: Medium
Small

2024-25.pages.jsonl

Regulation & Policy

Simulate new pricing models

Use simulation tools to test new pricing models before full implementation.

Impact: High
Effort: High
Large

2023-24.pdf

Legislation administered

· 4

Act

2011

National Health Reform Act 2011

Determine national efficient price and cost for public hospital services and provide aged care pricing advice.

Act

1997

Aged Care Act 1997

Provide aged care pricing advice and approve accommodation deposit amounts and extra service fees.

Act

2022

Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission Response) Act 2022

Support legislative changes in response to the Royal Commission on Aged Care.

Agreement

2020

National Health Reform Agreement

Guide the development of the national efficient price and cost determinations.

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