Public or private care: where do specialists spend their time?

Area of Science:

• Health Workforce Research
• Medical Practice Management
• Public Health Policy

Background:

• Australian medical specialists divide clinical practice between public and private sectors.
• Previous aggregate data suggested similar working hours across sectors.
• Consolidated figures may obscure significant specialty-specific variations in practice allocation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To clarify the public-private division of clinical care provision by Australian doctors.
• To provide the first specialty-specific data on the public-private mix of medical practice in Australia.
• To inform workforce planning and policy development.

Main Methods:

• Secondary analysis of Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency workforce survey data.
• Inclusion of demographic and employment data from specialists in eight adult specialties (surgical and medical).
• Analysis of frequency distributions and mean/median calculations of employment data.

Main Results:

• A large majority of patient care time for analyzed specialties was provided in the private sector.
• For surgical specialties, less than 30% of clinical time was spent in the public sector on average.
• Significant variation existed among specialties regarding outpatient vs. inpatient care and public/private division.

Conclusions:

• Accurate assessment of the medical workforce requires understanding the public and private market needs and physician time allocation.
• Specialty-specific data is crucial for effective Australian physician workforce planning.
• Policies must consider the public-private practice split to meet national healthcare needs.