December 2024
Healthscope on life support as Brookfield tips in more funding
The owner of 38 private hospitals has told staff its debt burden and rents paid to landlords have become difficult to support. It is trying to stave off closures.
- Michael Smith
Private hospitals split over industry’s demand for emergency funding
Two not-for-profit groups say they are opposed to calls from bigger players like Ramsay Health Care for more money, or the introduction of $200 visit fees.
- Michael Smith
November 2024
Ramsay resists investor pressure to dump international hospitals
The private hospital giant’s chairman David Thodey says he cannot rule out offshore asset sales, but shareholders want more certainty.
- Michael Smith
Health insurers warn of closures without 6pc premium hike
Health funds have asked Labor to allow big premium rises as the amount they charge policyholders is not keeping pace with healthcare inflation.
- Michael Smith
Brookfield’s Healthscope secures extension on $1.6b debt
The private hospital operator has been given more time from its lenders to secure extra funding from insurers as costs mount.
- Michael Smith
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
October 2024
- Exclusive
- Healthcare
Healthscope vows to terminate Bupa deal if it does not accept fees
Healthscope has written to Bupa asking it to amend its contract to let it slug members with extra hospital fees.
- Michael Smith
Insurer HCF bows to NSW pressure on hospital bed rates
Insurers say they are being held hostage by the NSW government which is threatening to hike taxes if they do not pay more to use public hospital beds.
- Michael Smith
Ramsay calls for insurance shake-up as hospital bailout hopes sink
Ramsay Health Care says it is not expecting the federal government to bail out loss-making hospitals.
- Michael Smith
September 2024
‘At tipping point’: Inside one of Australia’s busiest hospitals
Doctors and nurses in Australia’s busiest emergency ward say the system is under unprecedented pressure amid a surge in mental illness and geriatric patients with nowhere else to go.
- Michael Smith
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
- Exclusive
- Healthcare
Health Department review finds private hospitals ‘uninvestable’
The preliminary findings, which have not been made public, come as Labor MPs grow concerned that the government is failing to fix a crisis in the system.
- Michael Smith
August 2024
- 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
July 2024
St Vincent’s splits with insurer NIB amid private hospitals ‘crisis’
St Vincent’s on Thursday told health fund NIB it would walk away from its contract over an entrenched pricing disagreement.
- Tom McIlroy
Private hospital operators to hand over profitability data
Data about break-even points and investability will be handed to the Health Department by next week, The Australian Financial Review has learnt.
- Tom McIlroy
March 2024
Healthscope lenders ready to bring out big guns as talks heat up
The lenders have sought pitches from Alvarez and Marsal, and AlixPartners, to work alongside Ashurst’s Shawn Wytenburg and James Marshall.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
Lawyers swarm Healthscope’s $1.6b debt restructure
It’s lawyers at ten paces, as private hospitals group Healthscope hunkers down to negotiate a restructure of its $1.6 billion debt amid shrinking insurance payouts.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
Healthscope calls in restructuring specialists
Canadian infrastructure giant Brookfield’s private hospitals business Healthscope has called in restructuring specialists, as insurers tighten their fists on payouts to the sector.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
September 2022
KKR turns the screws on its target Ramsay
After the better part of two years stalking the private hospital operator, KKR & Co is still empty-handed. Ramsay needs to now focus on its business.
- Carrie LaFrenz