PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS

Sex and age

In 2013-14, females accounted for 54.7% of all patient separations, males and accounted for 44.7% (note that the sex of some patients is not reported). The greatest proportion of separations for both males and females was among those aged 65-74, with this age group accounting for 18.5% of female separations and 24.7% of male separations.

TABLE 1.3: PRIVATE HOSPITAL SEPARATIONS—2013-14
		Acute and psychiatric hospitals			Free-standing day hospital facilities			All private hospitals
		Males	Females	Persons	Males	Females	Persons	Males	Females	Persons
		Proportion (%)
Age group (years)
	0-4	2.5	1.4	1.9	1.9	0.7	0.3	2.1	1.1	1.5
	5-14	2.1	1.4	1.7	1.7	1.0	0.9	1.8	1.3	1.5
	15-24	4.5	5.2	4.9	4.9	2.7	6.1	4.0	5.4	4.8
	25-34	5.1	10.7	8.2	8.2	4.1	9.7	4.8	10.4	7.9
	35-44	7.9	12.5	10.4	10.4	6.4	12.2	7.5	12.4	10.1
	45-54	11.8	13.6	12.8	12.8	10.8	11.4	11.5	13.0	12.3
	55-64	19.0	17.2	18.0	18.0	20.2	17.3	19.3	17.2	18.1
	65-74	23.8	17.8	20.5	20.5	27.3	20.6	24.7	18.5	21.2
	75-84	15.8	12.8	14.2	14.2	19.1	13.5	16.6	13.0	14.6
	85 and over	6.6	6.6	6.6	6.6	6.2	5.5	6.5	6.3	6.4
	Total (a)	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
Proportion of persons (b)		45.0	55.0	100.0	44.0	53.8	100.0	44.7	54.7	100.0
		Number ('000)
All separations		1,448.8	1,771.2	3,220.1	495.1	604.7	1,124.2	1,943.9	2,375.9	4,344.3
(a) The total may be greater than the sum of its components as it includes separations where age or sex not stated. (b) Proportions exclude unknown age and sex.

Insurance

The proportion of patient separations reported as being covered by private hospital insurance increased by 0.1 percentage points from 80.9% in 2012-13 to 81.0% in 2013-14. Patient separations reported as being covered by private hospital insurance in private Acute and psychiatric hospitals increased by 0.3 percentage points to 86.7% since 2012-13, while separations from Free-standing day hospitals that were covered by insurance decreased by 0.6 percentage points to 64.6%.

TABLE 1.4: PRIVATE HOSPITAL SEPARATIONS, Patient insurance status (a)—Selected years.
	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14
	Acute and psychiatric hospitals (%)
Hospital insurance	88.1	86.6	87.1	86.4	86.7
No hospital insurance	10.5	11.5	9.5	8.9	8.6
Total (b)	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
	Free-standing day hospital facilities (%)
Hospital insurance	66.8	69.3	66.6	65.2	64.6
No hospital insurance	25.1	np	23.6	22.3	23.7
Total (b)	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
	All private hospitals (%)
Hospital insurance	83.0	82.5	82.2	80.9	81.0
No hospital insurance	14.0	np	12.8	12.4	12.5
Total (b)	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
	All patient separations ('000)
Acute psychiatric hospitals	2,730.6	2,821.8	2,965.4	3,091.8	3,220.1
Free-standing day hospital facilities	860.3	885.2	934.1	1,086.4	1,124.2
All private hospitals (c)	3,590.8	3,706.9	3,899.4	4,178.2	4,344
na not available np not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated (a) For definition of patient insurance status. see Glossary. (b) Total includes not stated or unknown. (c) Figures have been rounded and discrepancies may occur between totals and the sums of the component items.

The most common principal diagnosis of patients in private hospitals in Australia in 2013-14 was Factors influencing health status and contact with health services, accounting for 28.3% of of all principle diagnoses. This was followed by diseases of the digestive system which accounted for 12.9% of principle diagnoses. These were the top two principal diagnoses in both Acute and psychiatric hospitals, and Free-standing day hospital facilities. The third most prevalent principal diagnosis in Acute and psychiatric hospitals was diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue (9.5%), while in Free-standing day hospital facilities diseases of the eye and adnexa accounted for 15.0% of principle diagnosis.

TABLE 1.5: PRIVATE HOSPITAL SEPARATIONS, Principal diagnosis of patient (a)—2013-14
		Acute and psychiatric hospitals	Free-standing day hospital facilities	All private hospitals
		Proportion (%)
Certain infectious and parasitic diseases		0.7	0.3	0.6
Neoplasms		8.1	9.6	8.5
Diseases of the blood and blood forming organs		1.1	3.0	1.6
Endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases		1.5	0.7	1.3
Mental and behavioural disorders		6.6	0.3	5.0
Diseases of
	Nervous system	3.5	0.6	2.7
	Eye and adnexa	3.0	15.0	6.1
	Ear and mastoid process	0.8	0.4	0.7
	Circulatory system	4.5	0.8	3.6
	Respiratory system	3.0	0.4	2.3
	Digestive system	11.8	16.1	12.9
	Skin and subcutaneous tissue	1.1	1.7	1.3
	Musculoskeletal system and connective tissue	9.5	1.9	7.5
	Genitourinary system	5.6	2.3	4.8
Pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium		3.6	4.4	3.8
Certain conditions originating in the perinatal period		0.3	0.0	0.2
Congenital malformations, deformations, and chromosomal abnormalities		0.3	0.2	0.3
Symptoms, signs, and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings		5.7	5.1	5.5
Injury, poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes		3.5	0.8	2.8
Factors influencing health status and contact with health services(b)		25.7	35.6	28.3
Total (c)		100.0	100.0	100.0
		Number ('000)
Separations (c)		3,220.1	1,124.2	4,344.3
(a) Based on the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th Revision-Australia Modification (ICD-10-AM). See Explanatory Notes 16–19 for further information. (b) See Glossary for definition. (c) The total may be greater than the sum of its components as it includes separations where diagnosis was not available.

Procedures performed

There were approximately 9.6 million procedures performed in private hospitals in 2013-14. Of these procedures, 7.6 million were performed in Acute and psychiatric hospitals, while the remaining 2.0 million were performed in Free-standing day hospitals.

The greatest proportion of procedures in private hospitals were in the category of non-invasive, cognitive and interventions not elsewhere classified (51.3%), followed by procedures on the digestive system (12.1%). 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 Australian Classification of Health Interventions.

For Acute and psychiatric hospitals, non-invasive, cognitive and other interventions not elsewhere classified accounted for 54.7% of all procedures performed in 2013-14. The next most common procedures in Acute and psychiatric hospitals were on the digestive system (10.6%) and the musculoskeletal system (6.6%). For Free-standing day hospitals, non-invasive, cognitive and other interventions not elsewhere classified accounted for the highest proportion of all procedures performed on patients in 2013-14 at 38.1%. This was followed by procedures on the digestive system (17.9%) and procedures on the eye and adnexa (9.5%).

TABLE 1.6: PRIVATE HOSPITALS, Procedures (a)—2013-14
	Acute and psychiatric hospitals	Free-standing day hospital facilities	All private hospitals
	Proportion (%)
Procedures on nervous system	2.5	1.5	2.3
Procedures on endocrine system	np	np	0.1
Procedures on eye and adnexa	1.4	9.5	3.1
Procedures on ear and mastoid process	0.5	0.2	0.4
Procedures on nose, mouth and pharynx	2.1	0.9	1.8
Dental services	1.9	4.3	2.4
Procedures on respiratory system	0.7	0.0	0.5
Procedures on cardiovascular system	3.2	0.8	2.7
Procedures on blood and blood-forming organs	np	np	0.4
Procedures on digestive system	10.6	17.9	12.1
Procedures on urinary system	np	np	4.6
Procedures on male genital organs	0.9	0.4	0.8
Gynaecological procedures	3.3	5.5	3.8
Obstetric procedures	np	np	1.8
Procedures of musculoskeletal system	6.6	1.2	5.5
Dermatological and plastic procedures	3.8	6.3	4.3
Procedures on breast	0.6	0.4	0.6
Chemotherapeutic and radiation oncology procedures	np	np	0.8
Non-invasive, cognitive and interventions n.e.c.	54.7	38.1	51.3
Imaging services	0.6	0.3	0.5
Total procedures (b)	100.0	100.0	100.0
	Number ('000)
Total procedures	7,582.2	2,005.8	9,588.0
— nil or rounded to zero (including null cells) np not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated (a) Based on the Australian Classification of Health Interventions. See Explanatory Notes 16-19 for further information. (b) The total may be greater than the sum of its components as it includes separations where diagnosis was not available.

Mode of Patient Separation

The majority of all patients (94.6%) were discharged to their place of usual residence in 2013-14, a 0.3% decrease from 2012-13. Private acute and psychiatric hospitals discharged 95.6% of patients to their usual residence, while Free-standing day hospitals released 91.7% of patients to their usual residence.

TABLE 1.7: PRIVATE HOSPITALS, Mode of Patient Separation—2013-14
	Discharge or transfer to			Other
	Usual residence (a)	Residential aged care (b)	Other hospital	Died	Left against advice	Other (c)	Total separations (d)
	'000	'000	'000	'000	'000	'000	'000
Acute and psychiatric hospitals
New South Wales	849.6	1.6	17.2	2.1	1.0	33.9	905.5
Victoria	787.2	3.5	24.8	3.8	0.9	5.0	825.2
Queensland	710.3	1.2	7.0	4.3	0.4	8.9	732.1
South Australia	219.2	1.1	4.3	1.0	0.1	1.5	227.2
Western Australia	np	np	np	2.6	0.4	np	np
Tasmania, Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory (e)	np	0.3	np	np	0.0	np	np
Australia (d)	3,077.7	np	58.7	np	2.8	57.1	3,220.1
Free-standing day hospital facilities
Australia	1,030.8	np	55.8	np	0.1	29.4	1,124.2
All private hospitals
Australia (d)	4,108.5	17.2	114.5	14.7	2.9	86.6	4,344.3
np not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated (a) Defined as own accommodation/welfare institution (includes prisons, hostels and group homes primarily providing welfare services). (b) Unless this is the usual place of residence. (c) Including discharge or transfer to other health care accommodation, statistical discharge and not stated. For definition of statistical discharge, see Glossary. (d) Figures have been rounded and discrepancies may occur between totals and the sums of the component items. (e) Tasmania, Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory have been aggregated to protect the confidentiality of the small number of hospitals in these states/territories