October 18, 2016

Consumer spend at direct care Health Practitioners

This report provides a first look at Australian household spending patterns across a range of patient care practitioners (excluding GP’s, hospitals, pharmacies) based on transactions made through NAB’s health payment systems.

Latest analysis released by NAB reveals national consumer spending on health practitioners has grown 3.4% per person, year on year in the September quarter, seasonally adjusted. In the monthly growth rate terms we estimate average spend by consumers at direct care health practitioners at 0.3% (mom, s.a.)

By state the strongest spend growth by direct health consumers was led by Victoria in the Quarter, and Tasmania in the past month.

By modality, the strongest quarterly growth was in podiatry, speech therapy and occupational therapy.

Per capita spend on health has generally grown faster than the broader economic measure of GDP per capita. The estimate of direct care health spend indicates that private spend on direct health maintains this trend. We also observe some differences in spending patterns at the national and local level, highlighting variances can occur, even for the same procedure.”

This estimate provides an indicator of consumer spend at direct care health practitioners. Our estimate monitors spend by consumers at health practitioners that are covered by the Health Claims And Payments Solutions (HICAPS) payment processing system. It specifically excludes General Practitioners, Pharmacy, and Hospital care. Data is sourced and processed by NAB. No third party vendors are involved in this process.

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About NAB Economics:

NAB Group Economics is located in Docklands, Melbourne and produce research and analysis for both internal and external audiences. The areas we cover relate to Global and Australian Macro Economic environment, and Industry and Behavioural insights. Preparation & publication of NAB business surveys and drawing insights from both internal and external sources is a key function of our area.