PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS

Sex and Age

In 2009-10, the ratio of female to male patients remained stable compared to previous cycles. Females accounted for 55.2% of all patient separations for this cycle, and the 55-64 year age group having the highest rate for both males (21.1%) and females (17.6%).


Insurance

The proportion of patient separations reported as being covered by private hospital insurance remained at 83.0% in 2009-10, the same as in the 2008-09 reference period. Patient separations reported as being covered by private hospital insurance in private Acute and psychiatric hospitals increased by 0.5 percentage points to 88.1% since the 2008-09 cycle, while Free-standing day hospitals saw a decrease of 0.7 percentage points to 66.8%.

Procedures performed

The total number of procedures increased between 2008-09 and 2009-10 to approximately 7.4 million, an increase of 1.2%. Of these procedures, over 5.7 million were performed in Acute and psychiatric hospitals and the remaining approximate 1.7 million procedures performed in Free-standing day hospitals.

The greatest proportion of procedures in private hospitals were in the category of non-invasive, cognitive and interventions n.e.c. (49.4%), followed by procedures on the digestive system (12.2%). Examples of non-invasive, cognitive and other interventions are services such as dietary education and exercise therapy (often used for development of treatment plans, programs, case reviews or follow up to previous procedures performed). For further details of the classification refer to Volume 3 International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th Revision - Australian Modification (ICD-10-AM).

Similar patterns were reflected in both Acute and psychiatric and Free-standing day hospitals. For Acute and psychiatric hospitals, non-invasive, cognitive and other interventions n.e.c. accounted for 52.9% of all procedures performed in 2009-10, up from 49.4% in the previous cycle. The next most common procedures in Acute and psychiatric hospitals were on the digestive system (10.2%), the musculoskeletal system (6.4%) and procedures on the urinary system (3.7%). For Free-standing day hospitals, non-invasive, cognitive and other interventions n.e.c. accounted for the highest proportion of all procedures performed on patients in 2009-10 at 37.4%. This was followed by procedures on the digestive system (19.1%), procedures on the eye and adnexa (8.3%), and procedures on the urinary system (8.2%)

The most common principle diagnosis for patient separations from all private hospitals was factors influencing health status and contact with health services (25.0%). These data reflect occasions when circumstances other than a disease, injury or external cause are recorded as 'diagnoses' or 'problems' (see Glossary). The second most common principle diagnosis for all patient separations was diseases of the digestive system (13.8%). In comparison with 2008-09, factors influencing health status and contact with health services rose by 1.2 percentage points in 2009-10, and diseases of the digestive system experienced a 0.6 of percentage point decrease.


Mode of Patient Separation

The majority of all patients (96.5%) were discharged to their place of usual residence in 2009-10, only a 0.6% decrease from the 2008-09 cycle. In 2009-10, a further 1.7% of patients were discharged to another hospital, and 0.4% died during their stay in hospital. These proportions remained stable compared to the previous cycle.

Private acute and psychiatric hospitals discharged 96.7% of patients to their usual residence, a similar figure to the 2008-09 cycle. Free-standing day hospitals released 96.1% of patients to their usual residence, a decrease of 2.0% since 2008-09.

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