The agreement reached between private and public hospitals in response to COVID-19 has been hailed as “ground-breaking” by Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association Chief Executive, Alison Verhoeven.
“Ensuring we make best use of every person and all resources available in the health system to support the strongest possible approach to managing the COVID-19 pandemic is critical’, Ms Verhoeven said.
“It’s also vitally important that the stability of the health system is assured for the future—so we can’t afford to allow the focus to shift only to emergency response.
“We have a long history of public and private health services working in partnership with each other, and many in the health workforce have experience in working across both systems. Maximising the contributions of the private sector to the public-funded response to COVID-19 is in all our best interests.
“We are pleased that the arrangements agreed by Minister Hunt with private hospital operators include a provision for their services to operate as not-for-profit services and to be subject to audit requirements in exchange for this public funding commitment.
“Transparency will be critical to providing public confidence in the arrangements, Ms Verhoeven said.
