This Month
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Only one thing can end the $22b private health war
Brookfield’s latest fund injection into Healthscope is more evidence of the need for the government to step in to try to resolve a desperate and messy issue.
- James Thomson
Bupa offers Healthscope doctors payments to switch hospitals
The health insurer giant is offering Healthscope doctors up to $500 per patient if they move to another hospital.
- Michael Smith
- Exclusive
- Healthcare
Doctors say health insurers have too much control over home care
The AMA is warning that Australia is at risk of adopting “US-style managed care” where insurance companies call all the shots.
- Michael Smith
Mark Butler’s health problem with no fix
The health minister is in the middle of an almighty fight between private hospitals and the health insurers, and he’s facing a difficult decision in the lead up to the election.
- Michael Smith
- Exclusive
- Healthcare
Why Branson’s ex right-hand man is investing in workplace health
David Baxby has invested in just about everything from airlines to gyms. Now for the first time, he is putting his money into healthcare.
- Michael Smith
- Exclusive
- Healthcare
Private hospitals want $200 per visit fee to head off funding crisis
Operators of major private health facilities say it is their only option if they aren’t handed $1.3 billion in emergency funding by the federal government
- Michael Smith
- Opinion
- Opinion
Independent hospital pricing an opportunity for genuine health reform
The reality is private hospitals need fairer agreements with health funds. Providers, insurers, and government need to start a conversation.
- Martin Bowles
- Opinion
- Health insurance
Treating health funds like cash cows will be a disaster for our health system
If we want a sustainable private system, the next federal government must focus on reforms that put consumers before vested interests, to keep health insurance affordable.
- Rachel David
November
A one-woman firm becomes a $29m national recruiter
Kay Reynoldson says loyalty underpins healthy growth for this nursing recruiter where revenues have tripled.
- Michael Smith
Ramsay investors push for shake-up of ‘failed’ overseas expansion
The country’s largest private hospital operator is facing demands from shareholders to discard international operations and focus on its local facilities.
- Anthony Macdonald
- Exclusive
- Healthcare
Hospitals to pressure Labor to link nurse pay hikes with premiums
Operators including Brookfield-owned Healthscope and ASX-listed Ramsay Health Care want the radical change and say facilities will close if they are not funded.
- Updated
- Michael Smith and James Thomson
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Patients deserve better than jingoistic private health war
Hospital operators and health insurers love ramping up the rhetoric. But the long-term problems of health policy in this country aren’t getting fixed.
- James Thomson
Private hospitals warn of more closures after Labor refuses bailout
Health Minister Mark Butler has told struggling private hospital operators to sort out their own problems and resolve differences with insurers.
- Michael Smith
September
Private health giant Healthscope hopes for rent relief at 38 hospitals
But Health Minister Mark Butler has ruled out a taxpayer bailout for major private hospital operators, insisting they deal with soaring costs themselves.
- Tom McIlroy and Gus McCubbing
August
NIB says plan to fix hospital pricing ‘crazy’ as funding tensions grow
Insurers and hospitals are split on how to fix their acrimonious pricing negotiations as government reviews private health.
- Michael Smith
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Why we’ll all end up taking Ozempic
Retiring NIB chief Mark Fitzgibbon on the two biggest issues facing the private health sector: the brawl between hospitals and insurers, and the future of care.
- James Thomson
Bain Capital a ‘motivated’ buyer of Permira-owned I-MED
A “limited” amount of new information has been shared with a handful of bidders in the past week to help familiarise them with the business.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
- Industry Engagement
- Higher Education Awards
La Trobe’s pioneering model to transform healthcare
The winner of the industry engagement award used COVID and a pinch of serendipity to create a world-leading virtual medical emergency model in Melbourne.
- Sylvia Ramsey
- Analysis
- Higher Education Awards
Winning strategy: A virtual lifeline for emergency departments
Comment provided by the winner of the Industry Engagement award, La Trobe University.
- James Boyd
Call for medical supply overhaul after IV fluid shortage shock
Health ministers met on Friday to discuss a critical shortage of IV fluid bags which is raising questions about Australia’s ability to source medical supplies.
- Michael Smith