On the basis of the experience of the Netherlands, this critical commentary will argue why activity-based funding (ABF) in mental health care is a disastrous path that Australia should not take.
Conclusions:
ABF leads to an exponential growth in health care spending as it encourages diagnostic inflation and overproductivity. It also leads to fraud and an increased bureaucracy that goes hand in hand with demoralisation among health workers. And finally, the increasing treatment claims leads to the reintroduction of productivity limitations, waiting lists and ultimately austerity measures in order to halt the untamed growth of spending.
RosenAMcGorryPDHillHRMet al. The Independent Hospital Pricing Authority and mental health services: It is not a case of “one size fits all”. Med J Aust2012; 196(11): 675–677.
3.
RosenbergSPHickieIB.Making activity-based funding work for mental health. Aust Health Rev2013; 37(3): 277–280.
4.
WandA.Activity-based funding: Implications for mental health services and consultation-liaison psychiatry. Australas Psychiatry2014; 22(3): 272–276.
5.
SolomonS.Health reform and activity-based funding. Med J Aust2014; 200(10): 564.
FrankowskiA.Kop of munt? Twee zijden van zorgfraude: Over onjuiste zorgdeclaratie in de geestelijke gezondheidszorg door middel van DBC’s [Heads or tails? Two sides of health care fraud: About improper care declaration in mental health through DTCs]. Utrecht: Utrecht University (Master Thesis), 2013, https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/290774 (accessed March 2017).
TonkensEBroërCvan SambeekNet al. Pretenders and performers: Professional responses to the commodification of health care. Soc Theory Health2013; 11(4): 368–387.
10.
DehueT.De Depressie-Epidemie: Over de plicht het lot in eigen hand te nemen [The Depression Epidemic: On the obligation to take destiny into one’s own hands]. Amsterdam: Atlas Contact, 2010.
11.
BatstraLFrancesA.DSM-5 further inflates Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. J Nerv Mental Dis2012; 200(6): 486–488.
12.
de GraafRten HaveMvan GoolCet al. Prevalence of mental disorders and trends from 1996 to 2009. Results from the Netherlands Mental Health Survey and Incidence Study-2. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol2012; 47(2): 203–213.
13.
BijenhofAMFolkertsmaMAKommerGJet al. Kostenontwikkeling GGZ. Kosten van ziekten notities 2012–1 [Cost development mental health care. Costs of diseases, notes 2012–1]. Bilthoven: Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu, 2010.
14.
DerksenJ.Iedereen een psychische aandoening? Een visie op 35 jaar ambulante GGZ [Everyone a mental impairment? An opinion on 35 years of Dutch ambulant mental health care]. Utrecht: De Tijdstroom, 2015.
