IHACPA Annual Report 2022–23

Amendments to the National Health Reform Act 2011 that saw the agency’s name change from the Independent Hospital Pricing Authority (IHPA) to IHACPA came into effect during the reporting period of this annual report, on 12 August 2022.

The annual report details the agency’s activities throughout the 2022-23 financial year. This includes the financial and operational performance against planned outcomes in the 2022-23 Portfolio Budget Statements and IHACPA’s 2022-23 Work Program and Corporate Plan.

View our digital annual report at transparency.gov.au.

Highlights from this year’s annual report include:

Public hospitals 

• IHACPA’s hospital policy approach for 2023-24 was published in December 2022 in the Pricing Framework for Australian Public Hospital Services 2023-24. This underpins the National Efficient Price Determination and National Efficient Cost Determination 2023-24, which were published in March 2023. 
• IHACPA released the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision, Australian Modification, Australian Classification of Health Interventions, Australian Coding Standards (collectively known as ICD-10-AM/ACHI/ACS) Twelfth Edition in March 2022, which was implemented on 1 July 2022. IHACPA also released a self-paced online education program to assist health professionals to understand the key changes in ICD-10-AM/ACHI/ACS Twelfth Edition.
• IHACPA released the Australian Refined Diagnosis Related Groups (AR-DRG) Version 11.0 classification in July 2022. IHACPA also released a self-paced online education program in July 2022 to assist health professionals understand AR-DRG fundamentals and the key changes in AR-DRG Version 11.0.
• The Tier 2 Non‑Admitted Services Classification Version 8.0 was released in March 2023, for implementation in the National Efficient Price Determination 2023-24.
• Expansion of the National Benchmarking Portal, which provides access to insights on public hospital cost and activity data collected by IHACPA, to include safety and quality indicators.
• In December 2022, as part of IHACPA’s continuing support of the government’s Prostheses List reforms, IHACPA delivered Advice on Alternative Bundling Arrangements for General Use Items on the Prostheses List to the Department of Health and Aged Care. 
• The Three Year Data Plan 2023-24 to 2025-26 was published in June 2023.

Aged care

• The year marked IHACPA’s first year providing advice to government in aged care costing and pricing.
• In April 2023, IHACPA delivered its first Residential Aged Care Pricing Advice 2023-24 and Residential Aged Care Pricing Framework 2023-24 to the government.
• Since the transition of function from the Aged Care Pricing Commissioner to IHACPA on 12 August 2022, IHACPA assessed applications for increases to extra service fees and applications for refundable accommodation deposit amounts above the minister’s maximum.

Chair of the Pricing Authority, Mr David Tune AO PSM, notes on the expansion of the agency:

“The decision to expand the agency recognises the importance of responsive pricing in achieving sustainability in the health and aged care sectors."