Hospital input price indexes in Australia: Are they worth the effort?

Abstract

This paper summarises aspects of the design and use of hospital input price indexes,and describes four indexes produced in Australia in the last decade. It argues that therewould be some benefit in establishing a routine national index, if it were designedto be low-cost.However, care should be taken to avoid excessive reliance on the results in the resourceallocation and funding context. Input prices contribute relatively little to hospitals?expenditure changes. It is also necessary to monitor and manage changes in thevolumes of inputs, and this is likely to be a more rewarding task.