Labor government accused of fueling private hospitals chaos

Senator Anne Ruston, Shadow Federal Health Minister, addressed the escalating viability crisis facing private hospitals. Speaking at the Opposition Post Budget Health Briefing at the Parliament of NSW, she accused the Labor Government of deepening the divide by pitting key stakeholders against each other.

Expressing frustration with the ongoing conflict within the healthcare sector, Senator Ruston called for collaboration.

“Everyone’s been pitted against each other – whether it’s the public sector against the private sector, insurers against private hospitals or medtech providers. Everybody is at loggerheads instead of sitting down together to design a solution that actually delivers,” she emphasised.

“We need to make sure the cost of doing business is addressed, and that we have all the players in the room at the same time to come up with a solution,” she added. “At the end of the day, it’s about the patient. In fighting amongst ourselves we’re not going to deliver that solution.”

Recently, private hospital operators rejected the “hardship package” proposed by health insurers at the Private Health CEO Forum. The package, led by Private Healthcare Australia (PHA), aimed to offer short-term financial relief to hospitals that could demonstrate a “genuine need for short-term funding assistance in areas where there are no other private hospital services nearby”.

Calls for an oversight body, such as an Independent Private Health System Authority, have intensified. The Australian Medical Association (AMA), alongside stakeholders like the Australian Private Hospitals Association (APHA) and Australian Society of Ophthalmologists (ASO), is advocating for comprehensive reforms to safeguard the private health sector’s sustainability and ensure consumer-focused insurance products and services.

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