A Health Outcomes Resource Standard (HORSt) for Australian State Public Health Funding Distributions

Australia is a federation with a mixed private-public system. Public hospitals and community health care are the responsibility of states and territories. Private fee-for-service clinicians and pharmaceuticals is subsidised by the Commonwealth government via the Medicare Benefit Schedule (MBS) and Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). As with other countries, issues of efficiency and equity are key considerations, with equity issues in Australia confounded by large geographical area and population distribution.