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National Hospital Cost Data Collection (NHCDC) Public Hospitals Report - Round 20 (financial year 2015–16)

Date published: 7 March 2018

This National Hospital Cost Data Collection (NHCDC) Public Hospitals Report includes the result of participation across the various jurisdictions. The report investigates a number of specific questions relating to hospital costs for admitted, non-admitted and emergency department services. The report includes jurisdiction level data and the national cost weight tables.

These documents account for the hospital costs submitted by jurisdictions for the following activity streams: admitted acute, non-admitted, emergency department, mental health, subacute and non-acute.

NHCDC Data Request Specifications, Round 20, (Financial year 2015-16)

The National Hospital Cost Data Collection (NHCDC) Data Request Specifications (DRS) list the data elements to be submitted to IHPA and include the validation rules which will be applied to the data on submission.

NHCDC Public Hospitals Cost Report, Round 20 (Financial year 2015-16)

Participation

The Round 20 NHCDC, for financial year 2015-16, includes costs from 343 hospitals, 15 less than in Round 19.

Figure 1. Rounds 18 to 20, number of participating hospitals by jurisdiction
Figure 1. Rounds 18 to 20, number of participating hospitals by jurisdiction

Total expenditure

In the Round 20 NHCDC, total expenditure submitted was $38.8 billion, a 9.3 per cent increase over Round 19.

Expenditure is split between five streams:

  • Admitted acute accounted for 73 per cent of total expenditure, reporting $28.3 billion from 334 hospitals. This represents a 7.5 per cent increase in expenditure from Round 19, with 11 fewer hospitals reporting data.
  • Emergency Department expenditure accounted for $4.7 billion from 215 hospitals. This represents a 13.4 per cent increase in expenditure from Round 20, with 16 additional hospitals reporting data.
  • Non-admitted expenditure accounted for $5.4 billion from 257 hospitals. This represents a 15.5 per cent increase in expenditure from Round 19, with 11 fewer hospitals reporting data.
  • Subacute and non-acute expenditure accounted for $2.4 billion from 314 hospitals. This represents a 6.1 per cent increase in expenditure from Round 19, with 17 fewer hospitals reporting data.
  • Other product expenditure accounted for $94.8 million from 165 hospitals. This represents a 83.9 per cent increase in expenditure over Round 19, with 28 fewer hospitals reporting data
Figure 2. Total expenditure and percentage movement by stream, Round 18 to 20
Figure 2. Total expenditure and percentage movement by stream, Round 18 to 20

Average costs

For the NHCDC, costs are reported at the patient level. This allows for the calculation of average costs per episode by product stream:

  • 5.5 million admitted acute separations were reported in Round 20, an increase of 4.0 per cent over Round 19. The average cost per admitted acute separation was $5,194, a 3.3 per cent increase on Round 19;
  • 7.2 million ED presentations were reported in Round 20, an increase of 5.1 per cent over Round 19. The average cost per presentation was $652, a 7.8 per cent increase on Round 19;
  • 17.8 million non-admitted service events were reported in Round 20, an increase of 3.6 per cent over Round 19. The average cost per non-admitted service event was $303, an 11.5 per cent increase on Round 19;
  • 173,396 subacute and non-acute separations were reported in Round 20, an increase of 0.6 per cent over Round 19. The average cost per separation was $13,911, a 5.4 per cent increase on Round 19;
  • 25,298 other product counts of activity were reported in Round 20, remaining consistent with activity reported in Round 19 despite the increase in total costs submitted.

Average cost per weighted separation

Figure 3 (below) identifies the average cost and average weighted cost by jurisdiction. Victoria, Queensland and Northern Territory all have average costs per separation below the national average cost. NSW, Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania have an average cost per weighted separation below the national average. The average cost per weighted separation considers the complexity of separations of each jurisdiction.

Readers of the report are reminded that the results published should not be compared to the NEP. The NEP includes a series of adjustments to the NHCDC results to account for variations in the cost of delivering services, based on factors such as location, indigenous status and paediatrics.

Figure 3. Admitted acute average cost per separation actual and weighted, by jurisdiction
Figure 3. Admitted acute average cost per separation actual and weighted, by jurisdiction

NHCDC Reporting of Round 20 Cost-Buckets by AN-SNAP class, national level

This table presents cost bucket level cost data from Round 20 of the National Hospital Cost Data Collection (NHCDC) for all end classes identified in the Australian National Sub and Non-Acute Patients (AN-SNAP) classification.

NHCDC Independent Financial Review, Round 20 (Financial year 2015-16)

The National Hospital Cost Data Collection (NHCDC) is the primary data collection that IHPA relies on to calculate the National Efficient Price used for the funding of public hospital services. To ensure that the quality of NHCDC data is robust and fit-for-purpose, IHPA commissions an independent financial review to assess whether all participating hospitals have included appropriate costs and patient activity. 

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