Patients booked into the Mount Hospital who are covered by certain health funds are being urged to switch insurers to avoid being slugged a new $100 facility fee.
Healthscope — the nation’s second-largest private hospital operator which runs the Mount — has announced it will charge patients insured with Bupa and 29 smaller not-for-profit funds an extra $50 per day for same-day services and $100 for an overnight stay when they are treated at one of its 38 hospitals from November 26.
It follows a breakdown in negotiations between Bupa and Australian Health Service Alliance insurers and the North American private equity giant Brookfield, which owns Healthscope and has accused the funds of bleeding its hospitals dry.
The funds targeted by Healthscope represent almost half the health insurance market in Australia — more than six million people.
Healthscope said the new charge would only affect members of HBF – which has the lion’s share of the WA private health insurance market – if they have treatment outside of the State.
HBF is now reportedly scrambling to find alternative hospitals for its almost 300,000 east coast members affected by the shock move.
The only WA hospital operated by Healthscope is the 224-bed Mount Hospital on Mounts Bay Road. Its website now tells affected patients that “their insurer doesn’t properly fund local Healthscope hospitals” and encourages them to avoid the fee by switching health funds.
The new facility fee will sit alongside other hospital out of pocket fees patients already have to pay and will be charged upon admission to hospital.
Healthscope said fee exemptions would apply for treatments such as day chemotherapy, day renal dialysis and palliative care. The fee will also be waived for patients in day mental health and rehabilitation programs.
Rachel David, CEO of Private Healthcare Australia, the peak body for health funds, said the funds being targeted by Healthscope had contracts in place for fair funding of services and the fee move could be illegal.
“Targeting patients is a new low… I have never seen a hospital group do this before,” she said.
“This will cause great distress and uncertainty for thousands of people trying to plan healthcare across Australia right now.”
She also called on doctors who use Healthscope hospitals to consider their position and the financial distress it would cause vulnerable people.
“In most locations, alternative hospital providers with more stable finances are available,” she said.
Private hospital operators have repeatedly warned that they are facing increasing costs for medical equipment, supplies and running expenses, which are outstripping the payments they receive from private health funds.
The Australian Medical Association is urging Healthscope, Bupa and the Australian Health Service Alliance to return to the negotiating table to resolve the dispute.