Health system spending per case

Total spending across the health system on a particular disease or condition group is one measure of the financial burden due to disease and ill health. However, this does not give an indication of the relative number of people experiencing disease, or the amount spent on treating a single case. Total health spending for a condition may be high because treatments are expensive, or because the number of cases in the community is high. By estimating the health spending per case for a particular disease or condition, we can try to understand the drivers of total spending on disease, and where that spending is occurring in the health system. This information can also be used in health economic modelling to estimate what might happen to health spending if disease burden decreases over time or to assess the potential impact of new treatments and programs.

The expenditure estimates used to derive the spending per case estimates come from Health system spending on disease and injury in Australia 2023-24 and include spending on public and private hospitals, PBS pharmaceuticals, MBS services and dental. This does not include some spending through private providers, or the aged care system. For information on the methods used to derive prevalence and spending per case, refer to the Technical notes of this report and to Australian Burden of Disease Study: Methods and Supplementary material 2018.

Key findings

  • The 5 specific conditions with the highest spending per case in 2023–24 were: acute lymphoblastic leukaemia ($0.51 million), chronic myeloid leukaemia ($0.21 million), cystic fibrosis ($0.17 million), aortic aneurysm ($0.15 million), acute myeloid leukaemia ($0.13 million).
  • In each year since 2015–16, acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, chronic myeloid leukaemia and acute myeloid leukaemia featured in the top 5 conditions with the highest spending per case.
  • Since 2015–16, spending per case of disease (in real terms) has increased the most for cancers and other neoplasms ($3,100), infant and congenital conditions ($1,200), and cardiovascular diseases ($900) .
  • In 2023–24, 16 of the top 20 conditions on a spending per case basis, came from the cancer and other neoplasms disease group.
  • Of the cancer types with a national screening program, cervical cancer spending was an estimated $84,000 per case, bowel cancer $78,000 per case and breast cancer $75,000 per case.
  • Among cardiovascular diseases, spending per case of aortic aneurysm was highest at around $146,000, followed by hypertensive heart disease ($26,000).
  • For mental health conditions and substance use disorders, schizophrenia was the most expensive with spending of around $29,000 per case.
  • Motor neurone disease was the most expensive neurological condition per case ($24,000) followed by Guillain-Barre Syndrome at around $22,000.

Conditions with a prevalence count less than or equal to 4 for either males, females or total persons are not included in this analysis. In addition, benign and uncertain brain tumours, haemophilus influenzae type-b and all burden of disease conditions that contain ‘other’, ‘unknown’ or ‘uncertain’ in their description have all been excluded from the analysis due to the difficulty in obtaining reliable prevalence estimates for these conditions.

The following interactive data visualisation (Figure 1) below shows the top 20 conditions with the highest spending per case in Australia in 2023–24, and changes between years. Data used to create the visualisation is available to download from the Data section.

Figure 1: Top 20 burden of disease conditions with the highest health system spending per case by sex, Australia 2015–16 to 2023–24

This ranked chart compares the top 20 conditions for 2015–16, 2018–19 and 2023–24, showing changes in ranking between each year, and total spending per case in 2023–24. Results are presented for males, females, and total persons.

This ranked chart compares the top 20 conditions for 2015–16, 2018–19 and 2023–24, showing changes in ranking between each year, and total spending per case in 2023–24. Results are presented for males, females, and total persons.

The following interactive data visualisation (Figure 2) shows the spending per case for all burden of disease conditions where data is available, and the area of spending. The data used to create the visualisations can also be downloaded as an Excel workbook from the Data section.

Figure 2: Estimates of health system spending per case, by burden of disease group, area of spending, condition and sex, Australia 2015–16 to 2023–24

This bar chart compares shows the average health spending per case of disease, by disease group and sex, including how much each area of spending (hospitals, primary health care, and referred medical services) contributes to the average total. Results are shown for 2015–16, 2018–19 and 2023–24.

This bar chart compares shows the average health spending per case of disease, by disease group and sex, including how much each area of spending (hospitals, primary health care, and referred medical services) contributes to the average total. Results are shown for 2015–16, 2018–19 and 2023–24.

The following interactive data visualisation (Figure 3) shows changes over time in spending per case of disease, by disease group and sex. The data used to create the visualisations can also be downloaded as an Excel workbook from the Data section.

Figure 3: Trends in health system spending per case, by burden of disease group and sex, Australia 2015–16 to 2023–24

This composite line graph shows growth in total expenditure, spending per case of disease, and percentage growth between 2015–16, 2018–19 and 2023–24 by disease group. Results are reported for males, females, and total persons. Cancer and other neoplasms was the disease group with the highest expenditure and expenditure per case.

This composite line graph shows growth in total expenditure, spending per case of disease, and percentage growth between 2015–16, 2018–19 and 2023–24 by disease group. Results are reported for males, females, and total persons. Cancer and other neoplasms was the disease group with the highest expenditure and expenditure per case.

The following interactive data visualisation (Figure 4) shows the average spending per case for each of the burden of disease group, by area of spending. The data used to create the visualisations can also be downloaded as an Excel workbook from the Data section.

Figure 4: Estimates of health system spending per case, by burden of disease group, area of spending, and sex, Australia 2015–16 to 2023–24

This bar chart shows average expenditure per case for each disease group in 2015–16, 2018–19 and 2023–24, including how much each area of spending (hospitals, primary health care, and referred medical services) contributed to the average cost. Cancer and other neoplasms had the highest expenditure per case and hospitals contributed the most to overall costs for most disease groups.

This bar chart shows average expenditure per case for each disease group in 2015–16, 2018–19 and 2023–24, including how much each area of spending (hospitals, primary health care, and referred medical services) contributed to the average cost. Cancer and other neoplasms had the highest expenditure per case and hospitals contributed the most to overall costs for most disease groups.
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