Expenditure by disease and age

Attributing health care expenditure by disease and age is important for health policy makers in order to analyse resource allocations in the health care system. The information provided can play an important role in assessing the impact of ageing populations and changing disease patterns on spending. It can also provide input into the modelling of future health care expenditures (Heijink et al., 2006). Furthermore, the linking of health expenditures by disease to appropriate measures of outputs (e.g. hospital discharges by disease) and outcomes (e.g. survival rates after heart attack or cancer) can provide useful input in monitoring the performance of health care systems at a disease-based level (AIHW, 2005).