Private versus public? Examining hospital use by a privately insured population in New South Wales, Australia, using data linkage.

ConclusionsPeople with PHI make considerable use of public hospitals both as a public and a private patient. For this privately insured cohort, public hospitals are more frequently used for medical-related admissions and also for more resource-intensive admissions compared with private hospitals.What is known about the topic?There are multiple government incentives to encourage people to take out PHI policies in Australia. Although PHI is closely associated with private hospital utilisation, people with PHI can still use public hospitals as either a public patient, in which the service is fully government-funded, or as a private patient in which PHI contributes funding towards the cost of hospital admissions.What does this paper add?This study provides the first analysis of hospital utilisation of a privately insured cohort in Australia that reports on the interaction between public and private hospital use and declared insurance status, including utilisation differences based on service type.What are the implications for practitioners?Although there are financial incentives offered by the Australian Government to encourage uptake of PHI, the study findings show that people with PHI still make considerable use of public hospitals both as a public and private patient. Future policy reforms relating to the regulation of PHI in Australia should consider the nuanced differences in the way people with PHI use public and private hospitals to optimise resource allocation. PM...
Source: Australian Health Review - Category: Hospital Management Authors: Tags: Aust Health Rev Source Type: research