A comparison of costs in Australian public teaching, public non-teaching and private hospitals

Abstract

This paper compares costs for caring for patients according to common diagnosis groupsin Australian public teaching, public non-teaching and private hospitals. Generally,the costs for general surgical procedures are highest in public teaching hospitals, followedby public non-teaching hospitals, and are lowest in private hospitals. However, theprivate sector is more expensive than the public sector for obstetric activities. The reasonsfor the differences appear to be the much higher ?overheads? in the public sector thanin the private sector, and the longer hospital stay for obstetric patients in privatehospitals. Managers of individual hospitals should examine the data in detail todetermine if alternative approaches are appropriate.Introduction