Activity Based Funding (ABF) will be fully implemented across Australia in July 2014. Simply put, this means that public hospitals will be paid per episode of care rather than managing under global budgets. Although following the handing down of the Federal Budget has made this method of funding uncertain after 2016, there is nevertheless some very useful publically available data that can be used to build economically based marketing tools for medical technologies.
The National Hospital Cost Data Collection Australian Public Hospitals Cost Report 2011-2012 which can be found at http://www.ihpa.gov.au/internet/ihpa/publishing.nsf/Content/nhcdc-public-hospital-cost-report-2011-12-round16 contains very useful information on the component costs of episodes of care in public hospitals. This data can be very powerful if leveraged in simple models and used to market devices and technologies to Australian public hospitals. If a technology offers efficiencies in the use of resources, length of stay, operating theatre time, human resource use or improved clinical outcomes then there is an opportunity to present this information to your customers in an economic marketing tool.
Economic marketing tools clearly demonstrate to hospital payers ‘what’s in for them’. These tools if robust and accurate will go a long way in differentiating a technology from its competitors