Private hospitals cost less
Governments could save millions of dollars annually by making better use of Australia’s efficient non-government hospitals, Catholic Health Australia (CHA) has claimed.
The Productivity Commission’s recent draft report, Public and Private Hospitals, found that nationally, private hospitals cost an average of $105 per admission less than public hospitals.
In its formal response to the report, CHA said this represents a huge potential saving to governments.
“Better utilising private hospitals to treat public patients represents dramatically shorter waiting lists and millions of dollars in potential savings for taxpayers,” CHA chief executive officer, Martin Laverty said.
“The Productivity Commission found that private hospitals tend to have better infection control outcomes, and Catholic hospitals around Australia have already demonstrated that public hospitals run by private operators work very well to deliver quality health care at a reasonable cost.”
The not-for-profit public and private Catholic hospitals represented by CHA provide one-quarter of private sector hospital beds and one in 10 of all hospital beds across Australia. Averaged nationally, public hospitals run at 86.5% capacity – greater than the internationally recognised safe benchmark of 85% – while private hospitals are running at around 77% capacity.
“Shifting 170,000 episodes of care a year to the private sector would bring the occupancy rates in both sectors into line at a safe operating level, and save millions of dollars,” Mr Laverty said.
“Ensuring all Australians have access to quality hospital services is not an option, it’s a necessity. It makes sense to opt for reliable hospitals that cost less.”
CHA’s submission to the Productivity Commission is available at http://www.cha.org.au
