Introduction

Information on organisations funded by the Australian Government under its Indigenous Australians’ Health Programme (IAHP) to provide primary health care services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous) clients is available through two data collections, the Online Services Report (OSR) and the national Key Performance Indicators (nKPI):

  • OSR – conducted annually (covering the period 1 July–30 June) to collect contextual information about the organisations, such as client numbers, client contacts, episodes of care and staffing levels
  • nKPI – conducted twice a year (with census dates at 30 June and 31 December) to collect a set of process-of-care and health-status indicators focused on maternal and child health, preventative health and chronic disease management.

This report presents the latest results from these collections.

Purpose of the OSR and nKPI collections

The main purpose of the OSR and nKPI collections is to support continuous quality improvement (CQI) activity among organisations funded under the IAHP. They can also be used to support policy and service planning at the national and state/territory levels, by monitoring progress and highlighting areas for improvement. In addition to this, information from the collections helps monitor progress against the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Closing the Gap targets, and supports the priorities set out in the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan 2021–2031.

Most organisations contribute to both the OSR and nKPI collections (Table 1).

Maternal and child health funded organisations

A small number of organisations that received funding only for maternal and child health services (MCH organisations) report to the OSR collection. These organisations are significantly different from organisations funded for comprehensive primary health care (PHC). For example, MCH organisations are funded only for specific maternal and child health programs (such as those based within a hospital or health service) and only report on their funded program. As such, OSR data presented in this report exclude these organisations unless otherwise noted. Selected data from these organisations can be found in the MCH section of OSR – summary over time.

Table 1: Number of organisations reporting to the OSR and nKPI collections(a)

  1. Refers to the June collection period for the nKPI (see nKPI - introduction) and the financial year collection period for the OSR (see OSR - introduction).

  2. Reporting to the collections for these periods was made voluntary in acknowledgement of the additional pressures on organisations because of COVID-19.

  3. Organisations that received funding only for maternal and child health (MCH) services. MCH organisations reporting to the OSR are significantly different from organisations funded for comprehensive primary health care (PHC), both in the purpose of the funding and in what they report in the OSR. As such, OSR data presented in this report exclude these organisations unless otherwise noted. See also OSR - summary over time for selected data from these organisations, and Interpreting OSR data.

Notes 

  1. Not all funded organisations report to the collections each period. Organisations may receive an exemption from providing data for a particular period, or may be in-scope to report but do not report for some reason (for example, because reporting was made voluntary for a period).

  2. See also Summary and Technical notes for information on interpreting changes over time.

Source: AIHW analysis of OSR and nKPI collections.

All organisations receiving IAHP funding share a commitment to providing holistic, comprehensive and culturally appropriate health care, and can be split into two main types:

  • Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (ACCHOs) – initiated and operated by their local Aboriginal communities through locally elected Boards of Management. ACCHOs generally deliver a set of services deemed to be ‘comprehensive health care’
  • Non-Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (non-ACCHOs) – a mix of government-run organisations (such as local health districts) and non-government organisations (such as not-for-profit charitable health services). Non-ACCHOs may offer a limited or a full range of services.

The two types of organisations can have very different profiles (Table 2), varying in governance structure, size, workforce composition, additional sources of funding, the services they offer, and the needs of their clients. Caution should therefore be used when comparing data by organisation type. For more information on interpreting data, see Technical notes and Glossary.

Table 2: Selected measures from the OSR collection, by organisation type, 2021–22

Measure

ACCHO

Non-ACCHO

Total

Clients (mean)

3,585

1,184

2,804

Clients (median)

2,656

794

1,993

Indigenous clients (mean)

2,710

901

2,121

Indigenous clients (median)

2,007

615

1,326

Client contacts (mean)

40,918

8,734

30,344

Client contacts (median)

29,721

6,447

18,876

Episodes of care (mean)

25,554

6,882

19,420

Episodes of care (median)

18,810

5,198

12,724

Employed health full time equivalent (FTE) staff (mean)

31

7

24

Employed health full time equivalent (FTE) staff (median)

20

5

14

Total number of organisations

142

69

211

Note: This table and other data in this report exclude the small number of organisations that received funding only for maternal and child health services unless otherwise noted. See Table 1 for the number of maternal and child health organisations, OSR summary over time for selected data from these organisations, and Interpreting OSR data for more information.

Source: AIHW analysis of OSR data collection.