A cost comparison of alternative remuneration arrangements for visiting orthopaedic surgeons at a major Sydney teaching hospital.

The remuneration of medical practitioners working in public hospitals has emerged as a critical issue during the doctors dispute associated with the Medicare programme in New South Wales. In this paper the authors present the findings of a study, conducted at the Prince Henry/Prince of Wales Hospitals Group, of the costs of replacing the present sessional arrangements for treatment of non-changeable orthopaedic patients with a system of fee-for-service payments. Under certain assumptions, public hospitals could find that fee-for-service becomes a cheaper method of payment for certain surgical procedures.