| Abstrakt: |
The article reports that importance of the administrative structure of the hospital system as an instrument of government control has been recognized for some time. Its relation to hospital costs has also been identified (Australia, Hospitals and Health Services Commission, 1974: 32), though the underlying reasons have not been clearly elaborated. The research described here has indicated that the administrative structure of the public hospital system can be an important factor in the control and containment of hospital expenditure. The research method used was an inter-hospital comparison. Two hospitals were selected; one in Queensland, the other in Western Australia. These two states were selected because their hospitals have both widely differing expenditures and administrative structures. The hospitals selected were the Princess Alexandra Hospital (P.A.H.), located in Brisbane about 4 km south of the city, and the Royal Perth Hospital (R.P.H.), located in the centre of the city of Perth. These two hospitals were chosen because of their fundamental similarities. Both are large, acute, general, teaching hospitals. A review of the hospitals' Annual Reports and the Australian Hospitals and Health Services Yearbooks suggested the case-mix of the two hospitals was reasonably similar. |
