Final Report on RREF 2001 - Department of Health

Part B: Development of Options for a Revised RREF
Chart 2: Assessment and elimination of variables for weighting
29 variables proposed
8 taken into account in considering
options for Base Population
21 variables
for consideration for weighting
6 variables eliminated
as not meeting key criteria
and redundant/duplicative
10 variables eliminated
as redundant / duplicative
and on other criteria
5 variables identified as appropriate
for consideration for weighting
2.2 CRITERIA FOR ASSESSING VARIABLES FOR INCLUSION
Given the large number of possible variables that could be selected for weighting the RREF, a
set of criteria was developed to assess each variable. The first six criteria address issues raised
in the consultations and submissions, and by the Reference Group, Steering Committee and
Review team.
They are that any variable considered for weighting in the RREF should:
• have a demonstrated relationship to need for HACC services, on the basis of
research findings and experience in practice;
• be primarily an indicator of need for HACC services;
• be available at individual LGA level, that is, the RREF has to be built “bottom-up”
and not use variables that are generalised across all LGAs in a region and so
obscure local variation;
• have a sufficient range of variation to bring about a significant change in weighting
(that is, the variable has to vary);
• have been used in other accepted formulas, and
• composite indexes were recognised as possibly being useful.
<strong>Final</strong> <strong>Report</strong> July 2001 34