Final Report on RREF 2001 - Department of Health

Executive Summary
The RREF is recognised as one of several measures through which equity in the HACC
Program is pursued. The consultations raised a number of wider issues that have an impact on
equity of outcomes in service delivery and which need to be addressed in conjunction with
implementation of a revised RREF.
This <strong>Final</strong> <strong>Report</strong> draws together material from the Consultation Paper and Options paper,
together with reports on the Consultations and a range of other material, and incorporates the
modelling of revised outcomes. The structure of the <strong>Report</strong> follows the processes of the
Review:
Part A sets out the scope and background to the Review
Part B covers the development of options for the RREF in four steps:
Step 1: Options for definition of the base population
Step 2: Options for variables for weighting the RREF to take account of need
Step 3: Options for scaling of variables
Step 4: Options for adjusting the weighting of need variables.
Part C reports the outcomes of modelling the options for the RREF in three steps:
Step 5: Outcomes for base populations
Step 6: Regional outcomes of weighting for need variables
Step 7: Outcomes for regional allocation of growth funds
Part D takes up a range of other issues that have a bearing on the achievement of equity
in HACC through the RREF and identifies options for inclusion in the strategy
for implementation of any revised RREF.
The Terms of Reference provide a framework for summarising the
conclusions of the Review:
1. The objectives of the HACC program
As set out in the current HACC Agreement, the objective of the HACC program of central
relevance to the review of the RREF is that the program should “ensure that, within available
resources and within the broader service network, services are provided equitably between
regions, responsive to the regional differences and targeted to those who would benefit most
and/or are most in need of these services”. The Victorian Government is committed to the
objectives of the HACC Program and its continued growth and has made significant
contributions of State only funds which are yet to be matched by the Commonwealth. The way
in which the current RREF works and the progress towards achieving equity in resource
allocation that has been achieved to date are reviewed in Part A of this <strong>Report</strong>.
Against this equity objective, the main shortcoming of the current RREF was seen to be its
failure to take account of the range of factors that affect need for HACC services, and that the
resultant allocation of resources fails to respond to regional needs. The development of a
revised RREF that included a base population that better reflected the target population and a
range of need variables was strongly supported in the consultations and the options
subsequently put forward were widely accepted as providing a more equitable basis for
allocation of resources. The outcomes for regional resource allocations were seen to respond to
differences in relative need, notwithstanding the limits of the absolute level of resources
available to the program. While options that favoured their region were obviously preferred by
participants in the second round of consultations, there was ready acknowledgement of the
wider principle of equity and that the RREF should express this principle.
<strong>Final</strong> <strong>Report</strong> July 2001
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