Episode of admitted patient care—patient election status, code N

Identifying and definitional attributes
Metadata item type:	Data Element
Short name:	Admitted patient election status
METEOR identifier:	326619
Registration status:	Health, Standard 23/10/2006 Tasmanian Health, Standard 08/09/2016
Definition:	Accommodation chargeable status elected by a patient on admission, as represented by a code.
Data Element Concept:	Episode of admitted patient care—patient election status

Value domain attributes

Representational attributes

Representation class:

Code

Data type:

Number

Format:

Maximum character length:

Permissible values:

Value	Meaning
1	Public
2	Private

Collection and usage attributes

Guide for use:

Public patient:

A person, eligible for Medicare, who receives or elects to receive a public hospital service free of charge.

Includes: patients in public psychiatric hospitals who do not have the choice to be treated as a private patient. Also includes overseas visitors who are covered by a reciprocal health care agreement, and who elect to be treated as public patients.

Private patient:

A person who elects to be treated as a private patient and elects to be responsible for paying fees for the type referred to in clause 49 of the Australian Health Care Agreements (2003–2008).

Clause 49 states that:

Private patients, compensable patients and ineligible persons may be charged an amount for public hospital services as determined by (the state or territory).

All patients in private hospitals (other than those receiving public hospital services and electing to be treated as a public patient) are private patients.

Includes: all patients who are charged (regardless of the level of the charge) or for whom a charge is raised for a third party payer (for example, Department of Veterans’ Affairs and Compensable patients). Also includes patients who are Medicare ineligible and receive public hospital services free of charge at the discretion of the hospital, and prisoners, who are Medicare ineligible while incarcerated.

Data element attributes

Collection and usage attributes

Guide for use:

Australian Health Care Agreements 2003–08 state that eligible persons are to be given the choice to receive, free of charge as public patients, health and emergency services.

At the time of, or as soon as practicable after, admission for a public hospital service, the patient must elect in writing to be treated as either

- a public patient or
- a private patient

This item is independent of the patient’s hospital insurance status and room type.

Notes:
Inability to sign: In cases where the patient is unable to complete the patient election form, the patient should be assumed to be a public patient.

Compensation funding decisions: A patient may be recorded as a public patient as an interim patient election status while the patient’s compensable status is being decided.

Inter-hospital contracted care: If the patient receives inter-hospital contracted care the following guidelines can be used if no further information is available:

If the patient received contracted care that was purchased by a public hospital then it will be assumed that they elected to be treated as a public patient.
If the patient received contracted care that was purchased by a private hospital then it will be assumed that they elected to be treated as a private patient.