A virtual management consultancy established by Charles Sturt University (CSU) students has taken its research on private health insurance in public hospitals to the top.

After forming the consultancy as a major part of their distance education postgraduate program, the Master of Health Services Management students met with the Federal Minister for Health the Hon. Peter Dutton, MP in Canberra in September.

Their project is investigating the coverage and usage of private health insurance in a local health district.

Lecturer in health services management, Dr David Ritchie said, "The consultancy project is for the new subject known as Online Management Practicum.

"It is a capstone online learning experience that shifts the students from working in isolation on problems in their workplace to having to deal with a real world issue in real time."

The student team has already presented an Interim Report on their project to the Senior Executive of the local health district and are finalising the data analysis and report. A final presentation is planned ahead of graduation from CSU in December.

Dr Ritchie said the student team has achieved some significant milestones.

 "Rather than be content to focus on identifying the nature of the problems associated with the use of private health insurance in public hospitals, the students have been working on recommendations to identify improvements in management processes leading towards best practice," he said.

 "They've been able to interview two Chief Executives of private health insurance organisations to discuss key aspects of their study and test some of their findings and ideas about the relationship between private health insurers and public hospitals.

"The three students also successfully negotiated appointments with Minister Dutton as well as Dr Andrew Southcott MP, former Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Primary Healthcare from 2010 to 2013."

The Master of Health Services Management is a three year distance education program offered by CSU. Read more about the Master of Health Services Management in CSU News here.