Maternity costs are lower in private vs public maternity care

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2025-07-15 11:54

Australia; NSW; VIC; ACT

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There are significantly lower adverse health outcomes and costs in private obstetric-led care compared to standard public maternity care, according to new Australian research. The study compared health outcomes and costs for more than 860,000 births in three states and found lower rates of poor health outcomes in private settings, including stillbirth and neonatal death. They also found the cost per pregnancy was $5,929 higher in standard public maternity care.

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Journal/
conference: BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Monash University, University of Technology Sydney (UTS), The Australian National University

Funder: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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