Pre-Budget Submission to the Australian Treasurer: Health and Medical Research

This pre-budget submission to the Treasurer for the 2015–16 Budget makes 13 recommendations on health and medical research (H&MR). Research Australia supports the proposed Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) and recommends the Government to proceed with it and find savings to reach its target of $1 billion a year. Citing the CareTrack study, National Health Performance Authority reports and the McKeon Review, it maintains that the health system must absorb research findings faster. Recommendations include a government-funded PhD scholarship scheme for business-sponsored candidates modelled on Denmark’s Industrial PhD Programme; more emphasis on health systems research; career structures and research buy-outs for clinicians, including general practitioners; expanding the mandate of the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care to include efficiency; investment in implementation and comparative effectiveness research; an Office for Clinical Trials within the Department of Health; and large-scale demonstration projects for promising trial interventions. On data, it recommends secure linkage of Commonwealth, state and hospital databases and continued funding of the Population Health Research Network. Noting that NHMRC project grant success rates fell from 23.5% in 2010 to 14.9% in 2014, it seeks more National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) funding for early and mid-career researchers, an increase in Independent Research Institute Infrastructure Support Scheme funding from 20% to 30% of grants at about $20 million in 2015–16, and exemption of Australian Research Council programs from further cuts.