Relative contribution of overweight and obesity to rising public hospital in-patient expenditure in South Australia.

Conclusions The relatively minor contribution of overweight and obesity to expenditure growth over the time period examined invites reflection on arguments to boost preventive spending that centre upon reducing hospital costs. These arguments may inadvertently detract attention from the considerable health and social burdens of overweight and obesity and from unrelated sources of expenditure growth that reduce opportunities for state governments to fund obesity prevention programs despite their comparative benefits to population health.What is known about the topic? Stand-alone estimates suggest that overweight and obesity are placing a considerable financial burden on the Australian public healthcare system.What does this paper add? Our findings challenge common perceptions about the relative importance of overweight and obesity in the context of rising public in-patient expenditure in Australia.What are the implications for practitioners? Consistent serial estimates of overweight- and obesity-attributable expenditure enable its tracking and comparison with other potentially controllable expenditure drivers that may also warrant attention. Explicit consideration of population health trade-offs in expenditure-related decisions, including in enterprise bargaining, would enhance transparency in priority setting. PMID: 29467071 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Australian Health Review - Category: Hospital Management Authors: Tags: Aust Health Rev Source Type: research