Overcoming governance and cost challenges for Australian public hospitals: the Foundation Trust alternative

Australia will face problems funding its public hospital and other publicly funded health services if cost increases continue at the current rate in the context of ever-increasing use and an ageing population. The challenges of sustainably financing the cost of health will be exacerbated by inefficiencies in the public hospital sector—unless productivity improvements reduce the quantity of public resources consumed by public hospitals. This report identifies and discusses some of the major governance issues that impede public hospital performance and that can be revised within the existing Medicare framework via state government-initiated reforms, principally by adopting quasi market-based initiatives.