Case Study

Health and hospital fund program review and systems implementation

Inside a hospital

Ensuring the compliance of approximately 150 projects for the Department of Health and Ageing.

 The situation

The $5 billion Health and Hospital Fund (HHF) was established by the Australian Government as part of its broader nation-building infrastructure program. Under the HHF, the Department of Health and Ageing will have upwards of 150 projects for which it had provided funding ranging from $500k to almost $500 million

The rapid expansion and announcement of further funding rounds for the HHF program meant that the Department of Health and Ageing required a mechanism for reporting on projects progress and monitoring compliance with the conditions of funding and Federal, State and Local regulations. 

Scope

Advisian was engaged to conduct a review of the HHF program and provide recommendations for the development of a reporting and compliance monitoring system. 

Approach

Our recommendations adopted a risk-based approach to the high-level reporting and compliance management process. This involved:

  • Tailoring specific project monitoring and compliance systems to the project management capability of the funded organisation and the specific risk profile of the project 
  • Identifying key risks across the HHF program and developing key performance indicators to measure these risks to inform reporting and monitoring requirements
  • Developing reporting systems that recognise accountabilities for project outcomes sit with the funded organisations, but provide assurance to the Department of Health and Ageing on the status of key program-wide risks
  • Leveraging existing project management and reporting systems of funded organisations, to the greatest extent possible
  • Developing an on-line reporting portal to allow ease of access and to simplify the reporting process
  • Providing recommendations to embed the reporting and compliance monitoring processes in the agreement negotiation stage for future HHF projects

The HHF Advisory Board endorsed the recommendations in the Advisian report and subsequently approached Advisian to assist with the roll-out and implementation of the recommendations. This included the development of an on-line reporting portal, the creation of a Centre of Excellence and the procurement of a Panel of Independent Certifiers. Our team provided strategic advice and support in developing the processes, development plans, development program and supporting documentation.

The HHF Advisory Board endorsed the recommendations in the Advisian report and subsequently approached Advisian to assist with the roll-out and implementation of the recommendations.

Results 

Based on the advice and recommendations set by Advisian, HHF went live with their Capital Works Reporting System and developed, structured and resourced the ‘Centre of Excellence – Capital Works’, which was established within the Office of the Chief Financial Officer.

The Department of Health and Ageing was also able to develop the Funding Agreement for Round Three of the HHF and suite of procurement documentation for the nation-wide procurement of a Panel of Independent Certifiers. 

We were also asked to complete a review of the post-project evaluation and compliance regime for the Medical Research Infrastructure projects (nine of which were funded by the HHF) and develop a reporting template which captured the objectives - and measured the outcomes - around the funding, development and use of this specific form of infrastructure.  Subsequently we developed a similar post-project evaluation and compliance regime for a similar fund that provides funding directed towards medical research institutes. This was to ensure the infrastructure delivered continues to be used to support medical research outcomes. 

 

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