Background
In July 2008, the Foundation was funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing to commission an external evaluation of the services funded by the Department from 2004/05 to 2007/08.
The evaluation’s primary objective was to assess the appropriateness, effectiveness, and efficiency of the Foundation’s programs and services over the four years to June 2008. The results of this evaluation were particularly intended to inform consideration and proposals about future Australian Government funding of the Foundation.
The Evaluation
Following a tender process, the Foundation chose KPMG to undertake the evaluation, which involved consultations with stakeholders and was completed in early 2009.
The evaluation found that the Foundation:
- undertakes work which is integral to addressing important health care challenges, providing high quality educational programs for health professionals and communities explicitly designed to align with current and emerging government priorities;
- has an independent position within the Australian health care system that enables it to produce appropriate, high quality, unbiased interprofessional education programs;
- was effective in delivering programs and services and fully met the requirements of program funders and the needs of the rural and remote health workforce and the broader community, not only delivering to the requirements, but exceeding them;
- has sponsors which consider that its programs are consistently of a high quality and a valuable educational resource for their target groups;
- is the only organisation in Australia providing satellite delivery of CPD programs for health professionals on a national basis, and that internet access has extended the reach and improved convenience for users with reliable, high speed broadband Internet;
- has strategically developed effective relationships with a range of key stakeholders which add significant value to the actual programs produced and have been crucial in developing, promoting and delivering each program to its particular target audience;
- has developed programs that were used approximately 240,000 times during the evaluation period; and
- has diversified its funding sources and grown its annual income by 45.5 per cent, with increased income in turn resulted in a greater number of educational programs being produced.
Third party independent market research and stakeholder consultations conducted during the evaluation indicated that the Foundation’s programs are used and valued by medical and health professionals in rural and remote areas for CPD education purposes.
Opportunities
The evaluation concluded that the Foundation’s programs have represented value for money for its various funders, and a high level of efficiency in production and distribution.
Continued funding would provide the platform upon which to build more educational capacity, and address the educational needs of rural and remote health professionals and communities – including a focus on Indigenous Australian health and community engagement.
Increasing funding levels would further enable the Foundation to continue to diversify its funding sources, increase program output, expand its educational delivery platforms and reach to its target audiences.
Conclusion
The Foundation is well placed to continue to provide appropriate, effective and efficient health education programs that enhance existing health programs and initiatives.
The Foundation is uniquely positioned to deliver high quality CPD education, targeting an interdisciplinary audience with a focus on primary health care in rural and remote Australia.
To view a copy of the Executive Summary of the KPMG Evaluation Report, click here (note PDF document 400kb).