NDIA makes outcomes data public
Scheme Actuary for the National Disability Insurance Agency, Sarah Johnson, outlined the Agency’s outcomes measurement framework and – now publicly available – data on participant outcomes at the 2019 IDSS.
In Plenary Two at the 2019 Injury and Disability Schemes Seminar (IDSS), speakers provided different perspectives on the outcomes that are important to clients and the complexity of measuring these.
Scheme Actuary for the NDIA, Sarah Johnson, described how the NDIA’s ‘outcomes framework questionnaires’ measure progress towards common sets of goals for participants, their families and carers.
The results are benchmarked against other Australians without a disability and other OECD countries.
“The Agency has worked hard to collect data on 99% of its participants for a baseline set of outcomes indicators since people entered the scheme, from 1 July 2016,” Sarah explained.
The Agency is now releasing its data publicly and you can visit the website for information on participant outcomes, deep dives on groups and on market.
“The NDIA is releasing data so people across the disability landscape can work together to improve participant outcomes and encourage market innovation. Actuaries can contribute by starting to explore the data available to gain better insights into what is driving good participant outcomes,” said Sarah.
Keynote Speaker at the IDSS 2019, John Walsh AM commended the actuarial section of the NDIA.
“The actuarial section of the NDIA is one of its most critical sections,” he said, adding that it’s taken actuaries a long time to achieve recognition for the value they add “but that’s happening strongly now”.
“The actuarial team has expanded and really does a huge amount of analysis and reporting on the success and outcomes of the scheme,” said John.
Sarah shared some insights from recent data, for example that people do not come into the scheme on equal footing.
When it came to measuring baseline ‘happiness with level of independence/control’ for people (aged 15-24) with a sensory disability and people with a psycho-social disability, it was 57% and only 28% respectively; for ‘health’ it was 86% and 41%, and for the longer-term measure of ‘working’ it was 40% and 14% respectively.
It was also shown that community participation had increased substantially over the year for people aged 15+. A lower proportion of people reported not wanting to be involved in community groups.
Actuaries Digital has previously reported on the benefits of local, non-clinical support provided through community activities.
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