Wary of reward payments: Peter Dutton. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen
Health Minister Peter Dutton has accused the states of overstating the number of procedures they perform in public hospitals to get more federal funding.
Addressing the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday, Mr Dutton made the comments when asked to reconcile cuts to public hospital funding in the federal budget with his pre-election pledge that the Coalition would match the level of hospital funding promised by Labor over the next three years.
The budget shows federal funding for public hospitals will be reduced by more than $800 million over the next three years. Deeper cuts totalling more than $1 billion will occur in 2017-18.
Under arrangements negotiated by the Gillard government, federal funding is provided to states for public hospitals based on their activity, or the procedures they perform. But the Coalition is doing away with funding guarantees made by Labor, as well as reward funding which was to be paid to states that met targets on performance measures such as emergency treatment and elective surgery.