Final Report on RREF 2001 - Department of Health

Part C: Outcomes
The contributions that the three components make to the current RREF are as reported in Part A.
Three steps were required to estimate the contributions that the three components make to the
Base 2 and Base 3 options:
1. The base populations reported in Table 5.1 were divided into a “core”
base population of those with core activity restrictions of all ages (that
is, Base 1 in Table 5.1), with the balance comprising the additional
adjustment made for the frail aged.
2. The total base populations were then weighted by the average need
weighting score for all LGAs, 36.6%, to produce a total for the
weighted RREF base populations. It is the regional shares of this
weighted RREF population that are the basis of allocations under the
RREF.
3. The contribution of each of the three components was then calculated
as a percentage of the total RREF weighted population. Because the
same average weighting has been applied to both base populations, the
need weighting makes the same contribution to Base 2 and Base 3.
Note that the contribution of the 36.6% weighting to the total weighted
population becomes 26.8%. It should also be noted here that the
average need weighting is without adjustment to the weighting for any
of the variables, and that any such adjustments would only change the
balance of the variables within the total weighting and not change the
contribution of the total need weighting to the overall model.
Table 7.4: Share of RREF outcomes attributable to base population components
and need weightings
“Core” base Adjustment Weighting for Total
population
(those with core
activity
restriction,
all ages)
for
frail aged
need variables
Current RREF 87.7 5.5 6.8 100
Revised RREF -Base 2 39.6 33.6 26.8 100
Revised RREF - Base 3 49.4 23.8 26.8 100
In a revised RREF using either Base 2 or Base 3, both the frail aged and the need weighting
make a much greater contribution than in the current RREF. The contribution of the need
weighting increases from 6.8% in the current RREF to 26.8% both the revised RREF models.
The weighting in the revised RREF models encompasses five broad dimensions of need
compared to weighting only for rurality in the current RREF. This multi-dimensional need
weighting addresses the criticism of the restricted nature of the need weighting in the current
RREF.
<strong>Final</strong> <strong>Report</strong> July 2001 80