AbstractA study has been conducted into the pattern of ownership of “for‐profit” private hospitals in Victoria. Private companies were found to dominate the acute care private hospital business in Victoria; the company structures were sophisticated, involving numerous individuals and the business was rapidly expanding. Victorian Health Commission registration requirements were inadequate and, in particular, the definition of “Proprietor” in the Victorian Health Act was seen to be imprecise. It is proposed that all individuals holding a financial interest in private hospitals should be required to be registered publicly, together with their occupations. More than one‐third of the hospitals had doctors or their relatives as directors or shareholders, although bed utilization figures for these doctors in their hospitals were not obtainable. The conflict between commercial practice and professional practice of medicine is briefly discussed. The influence of business costs on profit‐motivated hospitals is briefly examined, leading to questions about the use of Commonwealth subsidies as “health‐investor subsidies” and “commercial subsidies”. These observations are presented with attention to the current encouragement of greater use of private enterprise in Austra