AHA administered key aspects of the $35 million Establishing Quality Health Standards (EQHS) Program on behalf the Indigenous Health Division of the Commonwealth Department of Health, from 2011 to 2016. This program included three different grant/funding streams, designed to assist Aboriginal health services to improve the quality of services they provide. This grants program was previously handled internally by the Department and using an external party (AHA) to perform this role was a new approach.

The EQHS measure aims to support Aboriginal health services to achieve and maintain clinical accreditation and organisational accreditation, by the provision of support including:

• Direct grants of up to $200,000
• Support from expert third-party consultants, procured through a tender and contracting process operated by AHA on the Department’s behalf.

The measure was funded via a $35 million budget allocation.  Aboriginal health services eligible for support included:

• Primary health care organisations
• Substance use service providers
• Social and Emotional Wellbeing service providers.

AHA successfully operated a fully outsourced model, which includes:

• Development of a communications plan to engage with Aboriginal health services and provide information regarding the grants program
• Handling all inquiries via a dedicated 1300 telephone number and email address
• Developing and maintaining the EQHS website, which contained information about the funding program, eligibility criteria, how to apply, application forms and other documents/resources
• Managing the end-to-end process associated with application receipt from Aboriginal health services, registration, acknowledgement, evaluation and approval
• Procurement of expert third-party consultants to support Aboriginal health services, including – obtaining quotations, contracting, invoicing and making payment to approved suppliers.