NEHTA Really Is A Great Example of The Worst in Public Sector Governance.

If you accept that NEHTA is actually a legitimate, legally authorised and constituted public sector organisation, the veracity of which I am somewhat suspicious, then there can be little doubt that its governance is a really bad model for achieving public sector driven reform outcomes.

I say this because I had occasion recently to have a closer look at the National Prescribing Service Limited (NPS) which on the surface is another non-profit limited company that is directly funded by Government, but which has a governance framework which is vastly superior, likely to deliver and sustainable in my view!

The key features of the governance are:

First, an elected board – with the Member Organisations electing the Board. The members are not just the jurisdictions –but a broad sweep of all those with an interest in what the NPS exists for – namely promotion of the Quality Use of Medicines and all that entails.

Here is the current list:

List of NPS member organisations

Our current Member Organisations are:

• Australasian College of Dermatologists
• Australasian Medical Writers' Association
• Australasian Society of Clinical and Experimental Pharmacologists and Toxicologists
• Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists
• Australian College of Nurse Practitioners
• Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine
• Australian Council of Social Service
• Australian Dental Association
• Australian General Practice Network
• Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing
• Australian Government Department of Veterans’ Affairs
• Australian Healthcare & Hospitals Association
• Australian Lung Foundation
• Australian Medical Association
• Australian Nursing Federation
• Australian Pensioners and Superannuants Federation
• Australian Postgraduate Federation in Medicine
• Australian Practice Nurses Association
• Australian Private Hospitals Association
• Australian Self-Medication Industry
• Carers Association of Australia
• Chronic Illness Alliance
• Consumers’ Health Forum of Australia
• COTA Organisations
• Diabetes Australia
• Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia
• Generic Medicines Industry Association
• Health Consumers of Rural and Remote Australia
• Medical Software Industry Association
• Medicines Australia
• National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation
• National Asthma Council of Australia
• National Heart Foundation of Australia
• NSW Therapeutic Advisory Group Inc.
• Optometrists Association Australia
• Palliative Care Australia
• Pharmaceutical Society of Australia
• Pharmacy Guild of Australia
• Royal Australasian College of Physicians
• Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists
• Royal Australian College of General Practitioners
• Royal College of Nursing, Australia
• Rural Doctors Association of Australia
• Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia
• Therapeutic Guidelines
• Victorian Medical Postgraduate Foundation

Second the board is an expert board – i.e. really knows the detail of what it is talking about. One can hardly say that about the current NEHTA Board.

NPS Board members

Members of the NPS Board serve a 3-year term, with a maximum of 3 terms, as defined by the NPS Constitution.

Current Board Members are:

· Dr Janette Randall (Chair)

· Mr Russell Edwards

· Dr Ross Maxwell

· Associate Professor Shane Carney

· Ms Kate Moore

· Dr Kay PriceDr Graeme Killer AO

· Dr Shiong Tan

· Ms Debbie Rigby

Virtually all Board the members have medical, pharmacy or nursing qualifications, with a good number having significant public sector management experience. Management has no capacity to ‘pull the wool’ over the Board’s eyes, which is always a bit of a worry with some of the decisions that come from NEHTA.

Third the organisation has a well defined clear reason for existence and a single source of funding which makes it focussed on achieving the goals it has been funded for – rather than the rather diffuse goal setting we see from NEHTA, and the intermittent and uncertain funding and manadate from COAG.

Fourth there are published evaluations and evaluation frameworks which are public and which are easily available:

See here:

http://www.nps.org.au/research_and_evaluation/publications/reports

The only serious assessment of NEHTA – the BCG Report some 2 years ago – is still to have many of its key recommendations implemented – e.g. at least 2-3 independent board members.

All in all a much better way of proceeding is seen with the NPS and their sort of approach that might actually lead to some success with NEHTA.

Mr Gonski and Ms O’Grady, are you listening? NEHTA could be reshaped to be way better governed than it is at present.

David.