Funding for public hospitals
Through the National Health Reform Agreement, the Australian Government contributes funds to help states and territories deliver public hospital services.
The Independent Health and Aged Care Pricing Authority collects data on the cost of hospital services and works out a national efficient price (NEP) for each one. Learn more about their role in pricing public hospital services.
Hospitals submit data on the number of hospital services performed and the types of patients.
We combine this information to make sure payments to hospitals are fair and based on the:
- number of hospital service they perform
- NEP for each procedure, which includes consideration of the types of patients being treated – some are more complex to treat than others.
This is known as activity-based funding.
Find out more about how this funding is distributed on the National Health Funding Body website.
Funding for private patients in hospitals
Private health hospital insurance pays benefits for a patient’s treatment in a hospital to both:
- the medical specialists
- to the operator of the facility for provision of accommodation, theatre, nursing and other services.
Learn more about private health insurance
Hospital declarations
Before a hospital can receive benefits from private health insurers, the Minister for Health and Aged Care must declare the facility or service to be a hospital.
Facilities or services must apply to be declared a hospital when:
- they begin operating
- merge with another hospital.
Private hospitals must also be licensed by their state or territory government.
Second-tier benefit eligibility
Private hospitals can apply to be eligible for second-tier benefits. This means that insurers must pay the hospital more than the minimum treatment benefit, even if they don’t have a negotiated agreement with the hospital.
Learn more about second-tier benefit eligibility.
Private hospital sector
Private hospitals are owned and managed by private organisations, some of which are non-profit. Learn more about the level of spending and activity in the private hospital sector.
We are currently undertaking a health check of the private hospital sector to assess the costs, revenues and profitability of operators across the sector. Learn about the health check.
Support for private hospitals
We have a role in administering private health insurance, including:
- administering the laws that govern private health insurance in Australia
- making it easier to choose the right cover
- assessing hospital declaration applications.
Learn more about private health insurance.
Collecting hospital data
Both private and public hospitals provide data about medical procedures and patients, including:
They must submit this data through an online portal.
We provide standards for submitting this data.
We manage other hospital-related data collections that give us information about hospital activity, including:
- hospital characteristics
- non-admitted patient care
- admitted patient care
- elective surgery waiting times
- emergency department waiting times.
Learn more about hospital data collections, including data managed by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.