Current Initiatives

Issues and initiatives addressed recently include – for your interest: 

  • Day Hospitals Australia 2018 Conference – ‘Rapid changes in healthcare – is your hospital keeping up?’ on 19-21 September at the Pullman Melbourne Albert Park.   Visit the dedicated conference website.  Make sure your register – excellent program.
  • Private Health Insurance reforms –  The retention of Second Tier Default Benefit  and reforms to the application and administration process is a huge WIN for the day hospital sector.  Second Tier has been a primary objective of the organisation and we have been a major contributor towards these reforms.  The Second Tier Default Benefit is a safety net for funding from health funds for private patients in private hospitals, particularly day hospitals, who are not able to secure a contract with a health fund for any number of reasons.  These changes will commence 1 January 2019.
  • Changes to BUPA’s medical gap cover – Impact of the private day hospital sector – Bupa’s decision to cease no-gap medical cover for their members seeking treatment in non-contracted hospitals raises many concerns for consumers and private day and overnight hospitals.  There are a significant number of day hospitals that are not contracted with Bupa.  Day Hospitals Australia applauds the actions of the Minister for Health, The Hon. Greg Hunt MP, in referring the recent actions of Bupa to the Private Health Insurance Ombudsman, which resulted in Bupa not applying their restriction on medical gap cover to private patients in public hospitals.  There is however still concerns for non-contracted private day and overnight hospitals.  The CEO of Bupa, Dwayne Crombie, will be addressing our national conference on Wednesday afternoon, 19 September 2018.
  • Type C Certification clarification of roles PHI 37/17 Circular – With some health insurers still not respecting the medical practitioners rationale for Type C procedures.  An extensive list of reasons why patients may need to have their procedure in a hospital setting has been developed and endorsed by the AMA, ASPS and RACS.  This list has been forwarded to the Department of Health.
  • Private Health Ministerial Advisory Committee (PHMAC) – Day Hospitals Australia continues to be represented on PHMAC and many of its working groups.  Summaries can be found on Department of Health website.
  • Prosthesis List Advisory Committee (PLAC) – Day Hospitals continues to be represented on this committee as well as the recently formed Prostheses Industry Working Group. Summaries of these meeting can be found on the Department of Health website.
  • AS/NZS 4187:2014 – our Taskforce continues to provide feedback to Standards Australia review of AS/NZS 4187:2014.
  • NSQHS Standards Steering Committee – Day Hospitals Australia has continued to be represented on this committee in relation to the development of Version 2 the NSQHS Standards and associated resources.  Interested persons can also undertake the auditor training modules online, or just review them to assist with what might be expected at accreditation audits for Version 2 of the NSQHS Standards.  All this information is available on the Commission website.
  • Minister for Health – dialogue has continued on an ongoing basis with the Federal Minister for Health and his Principal Advisor on key issues impacting the Day Hospital sector.  The Day Hospitals Australia Board and CEO met with Minister Hunt on 7 March 2018.  The Minister requested a 10-Year Vision for the day hospital sector, which has since been provided.
  • Ambulance Victoria Cost Model – Day Hospitals Australia continues to pursue this matter on behalf of Victorian members.  The Victorian Shadow Minister for Health, Mary Wooldridge, has continued to support Day Hospitals Australia on this issue and has raised the matter in Parliament on a number of occasions.  Day Hospitals Australia is now reviewing its options on what other actions it might take on this matter.

 

  • Process for the Development of a Day Hospital Are you thinking of building a day hospital?  It is recognised that the setting up and the development of a Day Hospital can be a challenging task.  Where do I start? Day Hospitals Australia  is pleased to provide an invaluable paper that outlines the process in a staged format to support those wishing to develop a Day Hospital.  Please contact the Day Hospitals Australia Staff for a copy of this document at a very reasonable price of $115.00 incl. GST (available free to current members).