Private hospitals in Australia

Amongst other things, this report: . provides a statistical overview of the structure of the industry and the activities of the 500 acute care, psychiatric and day hospitals that operate within it; . looks at some indicators of the industry’s financial performance, efficiency and quality of service (though it does not attempt to benchmark private hospitals against the public hospital system); . discusses some of the key factors affecting performance, including the relationships between private hospitals, doctors and the health insurance funds; and . draws attention to a number of policy issues germane to the industry’s future performance, including licensing arrangements for private hospitals and competitive neutrality, both within the industry and between private and public hospitals.