Hospital Circulars

Hospital Circular 13/12

Date Issued: 21 June 2012
Publication:  13/2012
Distribution: Public Health Services & Hospitals

Subjects:
Public Hospital fees – Changes
(i) Private Admitted Patients - overnight stays and same day patients
(ii) Compensable Admitted Patients (excluding WorkCover and TAC recipients)

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PUBLIC HOSPITAL FEES - CHANGES

(i) Private Admitted Patients - overnight stay, same day and hospital outreach service patients.

The Commonwealth has advised that the overnight accommodation basic default benefits for shared ward acute and sub acute hospital treatment in public hospitals in Victoria will be increased by 1.6% (CPI movement for Australia March quarter 2011 to March quarter 2012). Accordingly the State Department of Health confirms that effective 1 July 2012, Victorian public hospital private admitted patient bed day rates for 2011/2012 for private admitted shared ward overnight stays and shared ward same day stays will increase by 1.6%.

The private admitted single room accommodation rates for acute and sub acute treatment are not subject to a Commonwealth default benefit. The Department of Health has increased the published rate for the private admitted single room rate by 3.3% on the 2011/2012 rates.

(ii) Compensable Admitted Patients (excluding WorkCover and TAC recipients)

The State Department has increased the published rate for compensable admitted patients by 3.3% on the 2011/2012 rates.

It is of course a matter for individual hospitals to weigh up the various considerations in charging the published public hospital single accommodation charge. Considerations might include the benefit health funds will assign to the public hospital; the co-payment a partially covered patient is willing to pay as an elected private patient; and – subject to sound internal polices and practice, - the amount of co-payment (eg front end deductible) a hospital can viably forgo.

Published rates for 2012/2013 are as follows:

Table 1 - Private Overnight Stay

Patient Classification	Length of Stay	Fee per day ($)
		Shared	Single
Advanced Surgical	1 - 14 days 15 + days	384 266	753 560
Surgical/Obstetric	1 - 14 days 15 + days	356 266	715 560
Other	1 - 14 days 15 + days	309 266	629 560
Psychiatric	1 - 42 days 43 - 65 days 66 + days	356 309 266	715 603 560
Rehabilitation	1 - 49 days 50 - 65 days 66 + days	356 309 266	715 603 560

Table 2 - Private Same Day Admissions

Band	Fee Shared	Fee Single room
Band 1	225	303
Band 2	266	362
Band 3	310	419
Band 4	356	482

Table 3 -Compensable Admitted Patients (excluding WorkCover and TAC recipients)

Patient Classification	Length of Stay	Fee per day ($)
Advanced Surgical	1 - 14 days 15 + days	729 380
Surgical/Obstetric	1 - 14 days 15 + days	664 380
Other	1 - 14 days 15 + days	664 380
Psychiatric	1 - 42 days 43 - 65 days 66 + days	428 380 344
Rehabilitation	1 - 49 days 50 - 65 days 66 + days	623 380 287
Geriatric		380
Nursing Home Patient		222
Same Day Patient		533

Public hospitals are reminded that:

• Where a patient is placed into a single room and they have elected to have a single room they are to be charged the single room rate. Hospitals should not retrospectively seek a single room election from a patient after a private patient is placed into a single room for clinical need.
• The private bed day fees exclude private patient charges for surgically implanted prostheses, human tissue items, and other medical devices.

Frances Diver
Executive Director
Hospital and Health Service Performance