News / Transition promised for mental health tariff

The financial impact of the introduction of a future national tariff for mental health services would be phased in to minimise financial instability, the HFMA conference was told.

The Department of Health is currently supporting the development of a national currency, which will be available for use in 2010. Initially health economies will set their own local prices using this common currency. However the end goal remains a national tariff as this is seen as the best way of enabling benchmarking and driving efficiency and improvement, as well as addressing concerns about losing resources to the acute sector.

Delegates at a mental health workshop during the HFMA annual conference raised concerns about the timescale for a switch to national prices. One pointed out that the acute sector had phased in the national tariff despite having had a workable currency (healthcare resource groups) in place for 10 years. In contrast he said mental health was still developing its currency and pilot sites suggested they were struggling to capture all the necessary information.

Peter Howitt, project lead for mental health payment by results at the Department of Health, reassured managers that the Department was aware of the concerns. ‘There will need to be a transition,’ he said. He stressed that the Department was initially focused on local pricing but would be monitoring ‘how live people make it in the first year’.

An HFMA survey of mental health trusts has revealed a huge appetite for more details about the proposed new currency – which divides patients into 21 care clusters based on a needs assessment – to help them to prepare for the new funding system.