AMA Tasmania is calling on state and territory health ministers to ask the Federal
Government to step into stalled negotiations between Medibank Private and Calvary Health
Care.

AMA Tasmania President A/Prof Tim Greenaway said the contract between the two
organisations ends on 31 August and if not fixed, would have enormous flow on effects for
Tasmania’s already stretched public health system.

“Given most private hospital beds in Tasmania are managed by Calvary Health Care, if the
contract negotiations failed, the impact of the large number of Tasmanian patients unable to
access care with these beds being removed from the system, could break an already
clogged public health system.

“This will be even more evident in Launceston, where Calvary Health Care is the only private
hospital provider,” A/Prof Tim Greenaway said.

“This situation is unsustainable in terms of the increase in patient numbers potentially
coming into the public system.

“The options for patients insured with Medibank Private who require care at Calvary Health
Care hospitals will have to pay significant out of pocket costs to have their care transferred
to the public system, which is already under resourced and spread too thin.”

A/Prof Tim Greenaway said that while the industry accepts that health insurers should not
have to pay for mistakes such as wrong site surgery, hospitals and health professionals are
managing known complications that are not caused by mistakes, such as infections in
patients who are undergoing chemotherapy and who are known to be susceptible.

“These are things that are unavoidable, despite all the checks and balances designed to
minimise them and it is disingenuous of Medibank Private to suggest that poor care is the
cause of such issues,” he said.

“Instead of collaborating with hospitals and doctors to improve quality and eliminate waste,
Medibank Private has been using aggressive behavior with private hospitals in negotiations
over new contracts to get out of paying benefits for Medibank Private members.

“They are ignoring the fact that doctors work on improving the quality of health care every
hour of every day of their working lives. That is our job. That is our vocation.

“Medibank Private’s actions ignore the fact that quality standards for hospitals are set and
assessed independently by accreditation agencies like the Australian Council on Healthcare
Standards

TASMANIA

“Medibank Private is dismissing this long-accepted process, and is now demanding hospitals
to adhere to safety and quality measures that have been arbitrarily selected by Medibank
Private.”
AMA Tasmania President A/Prof Tim Greenaway