Victoria's major regional hospitals are still showing financial red flags, with some also failing to provide the healthcare they pledged to provide, ACM can reveal. or signup to continue reading An analysis of the health services' 2023-24 annual reports, as well as their statements of priority - the contracts they sign with the Victorian government - showed many recorded operating deficits running into the tens of millions of dollars. It showed others were bailed out by the government with even greater sums, while some recorded huge deficits even after equally large bailouts. But the analysis showed a handful of services were also falling well short of their activity targets: the amount of clinical care they have contractually agreed to provide over the year. ACM has published since February, 2024 of Victoria's regional hospital system and to meet their activity targets. As these services negotiate with the government over their 2025 budgets and activity levels, the documents show most are still struggling to keep both their healthcare and budget under control. Nearly every major regional hospital in Victoria recorded a substantial deficit in 2023-24. ACM used the net result from transactions, which tallies revenue from transactions against expenses. The Department of Treasury and Finance calls it "a summary measure of the ongoing sustainability of operations". Bendigo Health notched a $27 million deficit, Goulburn Valley Health $42 million, Northeast Health Wangaratta $12 million and Albury Wodonga Health $51 million. The only two large regional health services with a surplus were Grampians Health ($44 million) and South West Healthcare ($27 million). But they were both only in the black because they each had money for their hospital redevelopments - $113 million for Grampians Health and $65 million for South West Healthcare - sitting on their ledger. Several services also received huge amounts of "supplemental funding" to keep them afloat during the year. Bendigo Health received $46 million, Northeast Health Wangaratta $28 million, and Albury Wodonga Health $55 million. Grampians Health received more than $75 million in supplemental funding. This was nearly four times the bailout funding received by Barwon Health in Geelong, a health service 50 per cent larger than Grampians Health. The data also showed every major regional health service failing to keep the required amount of cash on hand to pay staff and run its healthcare operations. The government mandate is for each service to have 14 days' operating cash available. Goulburn Valley Health and Albury Wodonga Health had just seven days' cash. South West Healthcare had 10. Northeast Health Wangaratta had two days' available cash. Both Grampians Health and Bendigo Health refused to say how many days' cash they had, but confirmed it was less than 14. ACM asked several of the health services what they were doing to get their budgets under control. Bendigo Health said it was still negotiating with the government over its 2024-25 budget, but was "committed to operating sustainably, ensuring that it delivers its promised activity while maintaining a balanced budget". South West Healthcare CEO Craig Fraser said the service had negotiated a "break even operational budget for 2024-25" with the government. "While it will require continued close budget management, we are confident it can be achieved placing us in a better financial and operational position," Mr Fraser said. Grampians Health didn't discuss its budget, but said it would "continue to work with the Department of Health to achieve financial sustainability". Albury Wodonga Health did not respond. Over the past year, we have improved access to care, particularly in the regional locations. The state government said its for 2024-25 had allowed a "reset" of health service budgets. The government has increased the funding it provides for each healthcare activity, which it said would offer health services a "fair price", paving the way for "greater financial certainty and stability to the sector". It also created a new entity, Hospitals Victoria, to keep the health services on a tighter financial leash. "We're working with health services to ensure every dollar is spent on delivering the frontline care Victorians need," a spokesperson said. A comparison of each health service's annual report with its statement of priority revealed several services delivering much less clinical care than promised. The statement of priority lists the contracted activity target, while the annual report records the actual number of activity units delivered. Each unit is worth about $5000 in funding to the health service. A big operation like a knee or hip replacement might cost five units, while a simple colonoscopy would cost just 0.4 units. The documents showed Grampians Health fell 5400 units (about $27 million or 2700 surgeries) short of its 2023-24 target. Goulburn Valley Health fell 6838 units short (about $34 million or 3400 surgeries), while South West Healthcare fell 4512 units short ($22.5 million or 2250 surgeries). The activity shortfalls are particularly concerning when 61,000 Victorians remain on the state's planned surgery wait lists and emergency department wait times are than metropolitan Melbourne. ACM understands South West Healthcare's outpatient activity shortfall was less severe than the figures reported in its statement of priority. Mr Fraser said the service treated 1200 more inpatients in 2023-24 than the year prior, as well as 7000 extra outpatients. A Grampians Health spokesperson said the organisation had "improved access to care, particularly in the regional locations, and enhanced care options though increased cross-campus collaboration". "Like many health services, Grampians Health is experiencing high demand and increasing numbers of complex cases," the spokesperson said. Correspondent covering key issues across regional Victoria, based in Melbourne. Correspondent covering key issues across regional Victoria, based in Melbourne. DAILY Today's top stories curated by our news team. WEEKDAYS Grab a quick bite of today's latest news from around the region and the nation. WEEKLY The latest news, results & expert analysis. WEEKDAYS Catch up on the news of the day and unwind with great reading for your evening. WEEKLY Get the editor's insights: what's happening & why it matters. WEEKLY Love footy? We've got all the action covered. 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WASHINGTON — After decades of inaction, federal transportation officials have moved ahead with requiring new technologies to reduce crashes and fatalities involving large trucks. But the incoming administration could install a red light to block their efforts. At issue are proposed new rules by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to require large trucks to be equipped with automatic emergency braking systems and devices to limit their speeds. But advocates fear that such long-awaited progress to improve safety could end when Donald Trump replaces Joe Biden in the White House next month. Not only did Trump promise to reduce regulation but incoming Vice President JD Vance, while in the U.S. Senate, co-sponsored legislation to block the proposal requiring truckers to use speed limiters. "We are very nervous that safety-oriented rulemakings will be watered down or pulled altogether," said Zach Cahalan, executive director of the Truck Safety Coalition. After all, seven months after Trump took office the first time, his Transportation Department dropped efforts to require trucking companies and railroads to test employees for sleep apnea if symptoms were observed, even as the National Transportation Safety Board named reducing driver fatigue as one of its most-wanted safety improvements. "We want to hope for the best but based on the last time the Trump administration was in the White House, they did not advance safety regulations," said Harry Adler, principal at the Institute for Safer Trucking. The trucking industry gave 86% of its $13 million in campaign contributions to Republicans, including $1.2 million to Trump's campaign, according to the research group OpenSecrets. The 150,000-member strong Owner-Operators Independent Drivers Association already has let the new administration know of its opposition to speed limiters. "We look forward to working with the Trump administration and congressional allies to advance a pro-trucker agenda, which includes expanding truck parking, stopping unworkable environmental mandates and preventing a dangerous speed limiter mandate," OOIDA President Todd Spencer said. Cahalan said he "would not be surprised if the incoming administration chose to pull" the proposed rule on speed limiters, saying he expected it to be "on the chopping block." President Joe Biden and Congress pivoted to traffic safety after the pandemic led to a spike in highway deaths as motorists sped along near-empty roads. Fatalities in truck crashes nationally grew by 48% from 2013 to 2022, from 3,981 to 5,936. Pennsylvania reported a 19% increase during the same period, from 155 to 185. The 185 fatalities in the Keystone State in 2022 were the eighth highest in the nation, according to the Truck Safety Coalition. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in January 2022 used some of the money in the bipartisan infrastructure law for a new National Roadway Safety Strategy that called for using new technology, adjusting speed limits, changing road design and signage, and improving responses from medical personnel to stem the increase in traffic-related deaths. Safety rules In the law, Congress demanded certain new safety rules, including automatic emergency braking on trucks heavier than 10,000 pounds. The final braking rule is scheduled to be released in January, the same month Trump takes office. Trump could let the rule take effect or possibly propose weaker regulations. Meanwhile, NHTSA estimated that the proposed braking rule would prevent more than 19,000 crashes, save 155 lives, and prevent 8,814 injuries every year. A formal process to develop a rule on speed limiters is scheduled to begin in May. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said that in truck crashes on roads where the speed limit was identified, almost 40% of deaths in 2019, about 1,500 fatalities, occurred when the posted speed limit was 65 mph or higher. Adler said he hoped the rise in fatalities might be enough for the Trump administration to let the proposed rules take effect. "At a time when truck crash deaths are at some of their highest levels ever, we hope the data will encourage the administration to move ahead," he said. Long time coming Both rules have been decades in the making. The National Transportation Safety Board first recommended automatic emergency braking and speed limiters in 1995. The Transportation Department first said in 2011 that it would look at speed limiters, and proposed a rule requiring them in 2016. Automatic emergency braking joined the agenda in 2015. Safety advocates acknowledge that there could be some delays as the new administration puts its people in place, but said they would not let up on their efforts to see the new safety standards enacted. "A truck crash doesn't count what political affiliation you are," said Peter Kurdock, general counsel for Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, an alliance of consumer, health, law enforcement and insurance industry groups. "There's really a very strong compelling case, whatever your view on regulations, this is a rulemaking that can save a lot of lives and makes a lot of sense." (c)2024 the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Visit the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at www.post-gazette.com . Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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The Board of State Canvassers certified nearly all of Nebraska's 2024 elections results Monday with little fanfare. The board, which consists of Gov. Jim Pillen, Secretary of State Bob Evnen, Attorney General Mike Hilgers, State Auditor Mike Foley and State Treasurer Tom Briese, unanimously certified the results of all but one local race that triggered an automatic recount. Several close races in the state Legislature and among Nebraska's congressional delegation were approved without objection. For Nebraska's first general election after implementing a new voter ID law, Deputy Secretary of State Wayne Bena said ballots were processed smoothly, and praised the state's election workers for this feat. He said there were about 345 ballots that were rejected because voters did not comply with the law, plus approximately 654 early mail-in ballots rejected because voters didn't properly fill out their information. People are also reading... "This election, from all metrics, went very well," Bena said. The one automatic recount was triggered in a four-candidate Dawson Public Power District race, where the second and third-place finishers were separated by 20 votes, with the race slated to award the top two finishers seats on the board. Automatic recounts are triggered when there is a margin of less than 1% in the results, based on the number of votes the winner received. The canvassing board will now meet on Dec. 10 to certify the results of this recount. There was some question about whether the board would certify the results of Nebraska's ballot initiatives, particularly a pair of measures that are slated to legalize medical marijuana. Both Hilgers and Evnen have made efforts to invalidate the measures, which both passed with roughly 70% support, alleging that petition circulators and notaries with the campaign engaged in fraud or did not follow proper protocol. Last week, Lancaster District Court Judge Susan Strong dismissed several challenges made against the measures by Evnen and former state Sen. John Kuehn. However, that case is expected to be appealed to the Nebraska Supreme Court. Regardless, both Evnen and Hilgers had said earlier that they would certify the results of the medical marijuana initiative. The issue was not mentioned during the board's meeting. The certification does not impact the legal challenge. Photos: 2024 Election Day in Lincoln Daily Nebraskan photographers Emma DeShon (left) and Izzy Lewis send photos to their news desk during a Democrat election night watch party Tuesday at the Delray 817. Lincoln City Council member Justin Carlson (from left), Liz Ring Carlson, Lancaster County Commissioner Christa Yoakum and her husband John Yoakum, a member of the Lower Platte South Natural Resources District board, chat during a Democrat election night watch party Tuesday at the Delray 817. Lincoln City Council member Justin Carlson (from left) and Liz Ring Carlson speak with Lancaster County Board Commissioner Christa Yoakum during a Democrat election night watch party Tuesday at the DelRay 817. Joanna Davis-Yoakum wears earrings encouraging people to vote during a Democratic watch party on Tuesday at DelRay 817. Members of the Lancaster Democratic Party congregate during an election night watch party Tuesday at DelRay 817. Chelsea Richardson (center right) points to a board projecting election results to Kyle Carson (right) both of Lincoln, at a Dan Osborn watch party at Embassy Suites in La Vista on Tuesday. Incumbent state Sen. Carolyn Bosn of Lincoln (center) talks with her mother Debbie Curry of Columbus (right) at a Republican election night watch party on Tuesday at the Cornhusker Hotel. Sen. Jana Hughes of Seward (left) talks with incumbent Sen. Beau Ballard of Lincoln at a Republican election night watch party on Tuesday at the Cornhusker Hotel. District 27 legislative candidate Dawn Liphardt of Lincoln attends a Republican election night watch party on Tuesday at the Cornhusker Hotel in Lincoln. Republicans, including Auditor Mike Foley, attend a Republican election night watch party on Tuesday at the Lincoln Marriott Cornhusker Hotel. Susanne Shore looks on her husband, U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts, speaks during a Republican election night watch party at the Beardmore Event Center in Bellevue on Tuesday. Cardboard cutouts of Tim Walz and Kamala Harris are set up at a Democrat watch party Tuesday at Delray 817. Benita Casas wears a cat mascot head while enjoying a Democrat election night watch party on Tuesday at Delray 817. Democratic Party members congregate around a photo area with cardboard cutouts of Tim Walz and Kamala Harris during an election night watch party Tuesday Delray 817. Michael Marcheck poses for a portrait in front of a photo area during a Democrat election night watch party Tuesday at Delray 817. Chris McCoy (left) and Laura Heine chat during a Democrat election night watch party on Tuesday at Delray 817. Rep. Adrian Smith speaks during a Republican election night watch party at the Beardmore Event Center in Bellevue on Tuesday. U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer talks to supporters during a Republican election night watch party at the Beardmore Event Center in Bellevue on Tuesday. She won her bid for a third term. Rep. Don Bacon talks to supporters during a Republican election night watch party at the Beardmore Event Center in Bellevue on Tuesday. Independent U.S. Senate candidate Dan Osborn speaks to University of Nebraska-Lincoln students at the UNL City Union on Tuesday. Independent U.S. Senate candidate Dan Osborn speaks to University of Nebraska-Lincoln students at the UNL City Union on Tuesday. Independent U.S. Senate candidate Dan Osborn speaks to University of Nebraska-Lincoln students at the UNL City Union on Tuesday. Independent U.S. Senate candidate Dan Osborn speaks to University of Nebraska-Lincoln students at the UNL City Union on Tuesday. Independent U.S. Senate candidate Dan Osborn speaks to University of Nebraska-Lincoln students at the UNL City Union on Tuesday. Independent U.S. Senate candidate Dan Osborn speaks to University of Nebraska-Lincoln students at the UNL City Union on Tuesday. University of Nebraska-Lincoln political science sophomore Leo Sabbini gets ready to make a phone call next to 1st District Rep. Mike Flood at U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer's campaign office on Tuesday in Lincoln. U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts (from left) and 1st District Rep. Mike Flood talk with U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer as volunteers make calls at a phone bank drive at her campaign office on Tuesday in Lincoln. First District Rep. Mike Flood and U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer talk with supporters at her campaign office on Tuesday in Lincoln. U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts (left) talks with Sen. Deb Fischer at Fischer's campaign office on Tuesday in Lincoln. The two stopped by to talk with volunteers on Election Day as they made calls to voters. U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts talks with supporters at Deb Fischer's campaign office on Election Day in Lincoln. U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer talks with supporters at her campaign office on Tuesday in Lincoln. Volunteers were making phone calls to voters on Election Day. U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer and 1st District Rep. Mike Flood carry pizzas for volunteers making phone calls at Deb Fischer's campaign office in Lincoln on Election Day. U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer (right) talks with supporters, including Darlene Starman of Lincoln, at her campaign office on Tuesday in Lincoln. U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer (left) and 1st District Rep. Mike Flood talk with volunteers at Deb Fischer's campaign office on Tuesday in Lincoln. Voting stickers are available on a table to voters at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Lincoln on Tuesday. Chris McCollister (left) votes along with others Nov. 5 at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Lincoln. Lake Schulke casts her vote on Tuesday at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Lincoln. A cutout of Jesus watches over voters on Tuesday at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Lincoln. Voters cast their ballots Tuesday at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Lincoln. Katie Goeling (right) fills out her ballot while her son Gunner, 4, holds her hand during Election Day on Tuesday at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Malcolm. Katie Goeling (left) fills out her ballot while her son Gunner, 4, holds her hand during Election Day on Tuesday at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Malcolm. Katie Goeling (center) fills out her ballot while her son Gunner, 4, holds her hand during Election Day on Tuesday at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Malcolm. Election official Bob Snider works during Election Day on Tuesday at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Malcolm. Toussaint Barrett votes Tuesday at F Street Community Center in central Lincoln. Abigail Webb votes on Tuesday at F Street Community Center. People line up to vote Tuesday at F Street Community Center in central Lincoln. Rep. Mike Flood speaks during a Republican election night watch party at the Beardmore Event Center in Bellevue on Tuesday. Rep. Mike Flood speaks during a Republican election night watch party at the Beardmore Event Center in Bellevue on Tuesday. Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter.
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