Cost of potentially preventable hospitalisations in Australia 2023–24, examines potentially preventable hospitalisations (PPH) expenditure in Australia for the financial years 2014–15 to 2023–24, including overall trends, variations by geographic regions, and demographics.
The report complements existing data on how often these hospitalisations occur in the community. The estimates include costs for public and private hospital stays related to conditions that could have been prevented, but do not cover treatment provided in general practice or other primary care settings. This provides another way to understand the impact of PPH by showing how much hospital spending could be reduced if more care and prevention happened in the community. However, these figures do not show total savings, because community care costs would increase to support better prevention and management.
- Cat. no: HWE 108
Key findings
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In 2023–24, $7.7 billion was spent on PPH, 8.5% of total admitted patient spending
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PPH accounted for 3.14 million bed days across Australian hospitals
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PPH spending was highest for diabetes complications ($962 million) and congestive cardiac failure ($861 million)
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First Nations people had 2.7 times the rates of PPH than non-Indigenous Australians