The Business Council of Australia (BCA) welcomes the opportunity to provide a submission to the Private Health Reform Options – Consultation Paper. The BCA represents over 130 of Australia’s leading businesses, employing over 1.1 million people, including businesses that deliver health and care services.

The BCA advocates for the efficient and effective delivery of services in the health and care economy and for achieving improved outcomes for Australians accessing these services, whilst ensuring funding is sustainable. The role of the private sector is essential in realising these objectives. Public and private sector collaboration and investment are required to respond to future demand, new models of care and delivery of services.

Australia tops the world on the latest world health rankings. This emphasises the success of Australia’s mixed public and private system. The international comparisons demonstrate that Australia’s unique mixed system is effective and efficient in delivering high health outcomes. Government policies must play to this strength, not undermine it.

Approximately 45 per cent of Australians have hospital treatment included in their private health insurance membership, and nearly 55 per cent of Australians have general treatment membership. Private hospitals manage 40 per cent of hospitalisations and deliver 60 per cent of elective surgery.

If this patient care was only available in public hospitals, the health system would be overwhelmed, resulting in people being unable to access essential health care, particularly the most vulnerable in society who rely solely on the public system.

We know the ongoing financial challenges the health and care system continues to face, particularly for private hospitals. The BCA acknowledges the Australian Government’s action to undertake a Private Hospital Sector Financial Check (Health Check).

The Health Check found several factors are negatively impacting private hospitals’ financial viability, including workforce shortages, revenue not keeping up with inflation, increased input costs, such as wages, changes in demand for services and the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in delayed capital expenditure.

We note that many of the proposals put forward in the current consultation paper do not directly address the problems raised in the Health Check. In addition, the paper puts forward solutions that were not identified in the Health Check.

The BCA supports:

• greater transparency in the health and care sector to drive increased efficiencies, accountability, scrutiny of cost structures and shift to a consumer-led model.
• greater transparency for consumers to enable a consumer-oriented health and care system. This will allow for better financial decision-making.
• broader uptake of hospital-in-the-home services and associated funding arrangements across the health and care system. These should be clinically led, and appropriate and not simply cost shift from one area to another

We urge the Australian Government and the Department to continue to respond to the Health Check findings as the viability of the sector must be a priority for the health care of all Australians.  All levels of government must work more closely with the private sector to address workforce shortages, particularly in regional, rural, and remote areas.

Lastly, we are concerned by the timing of this consultation, being released in January for only three weeks. This has provided limited time to engage with members and develop a detailed submission on significant policy.

Read our full submission here.