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Australian Hospital Patient Costing Standards Version 4.2

Date published: 10 January 2024

The Australian Hospital Patient Costing Standards (AHPCS) provide direction for costing practitioners to ensure all in-scope costs are allocated to hospital activity to reflect resource utilisation, in a complete and consistent manner.

The AHPCS Version 4.2 has been updated in consultation with jurisdictions to include changes to the definitions of ‘direct’ and ‘indirect’ costs, and to distinguish between patient transport costs.

The AHPCS Version 4.2 consists of three components:

  • Part 1: Standards – provides the overarching principles to support and inform each step in the process of patient level and product costing.
  • Part 2: Business Rules – provides practical guidance on how a Standard can be translated into action.
  • Part 3: Costing Guidelines – provides practical consolidated steps to guide costing practitioners on how to cost various services.

This video provides an overview of structure and use of the AHPCS.

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