PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS

Sex and Age

In 2008-09, the ratio of female to male patients remained stable compared to previous cycles. Females accounted for 55% of all patient separations for this cycle. However, people aged 65 and over accounted for 37% of all patient separations, compared to 35% in 2006-07. Based on the estimated resident population at 31 December 2008, there were 170.3 patient separations per 1,000 population for females and 140.4 patient separations per 1,000 population for males.


Insurance

The proportion of patient separations reported as being covered by private hospital insurance increased to 83% in 2008-09, up from 79% in the 2006-07 reference period. Patient separations reported as being covered by private hospital insurance in private Acute and psychiatric hospitals increased by 4.5 percentage points since the 2006-07 cycle, while Free-standing day hospitals saw an increase of 6.7 percentage points.

Procedures performed

The total number of procedures increased by 16% from 6.3 million in 2006-07 to 7.3 million in 2008-09. Of these procedures, 5.9 million were performed in Acute and psychiatric hospitals and the remaining 1.4 million in Free-standing day hospitals.

The greatest proportion of procedures in private hospitals were in the category of Non-invasive, cognitive and interventions nec (48%), followed by Procedures on the digestive system (13%). 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 nec accounted for 49% of all procedures performed in 2008-09, up from 48% in the previous cycle. The next most common procedures in Acute and psychiatric hospitals were on the Digestive system (11%), the Musculoskeletal system (6.8%) and procedures on the Urinary System (4.0%). For Free-standing day hospitals, Non-invasive, cognitive and other interventions nec accounted for the highest proportion of all procedures performed on patients in 2008-09 at 40%. This was followed by Procedures on the digestive system (21%), Procedures on the eye and adnexa (9.6%), and Procedures on the Urinary system (7.8%)

The most common principle diagnosis for patient separations from all private hospitals was Factors influencing health status and contact with health services (24%). 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 (14%). In comparison with 2006-07, Factors influencing health status and contact with health services rose by 3 percentage points in 2008-09, and Diseases of the digestive system remained steady at 14%.


Mode of Patient Separation

The majority of all patients (97%) were discharged to their place of usual residence in 2008-09. Patient separations discharged to usual residence increased by 16% since the 2006-07 cycle. In 2008-09, a further 1.8% 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 97% of patients to their usual residence, an increase of 3.4% compared to the previous cycle. Free-standing day hospitals released 98% of patients to their usual residence, a considerable rise of 11% since 2006-07.

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