Healthscope and Medibank today announced a new, two year contract to deliver high-quality and affordable health care services to Medibank members.
CEO of Healthscope, Robert Cooke, said that the contract was a great outcome for one of Australia’s largest private hospital providers.
“Healthscope has a longstanding commitment to improving our patients’ experience in hospital, including robust safety and quality programs. Medibank’s focus on reducing hospital acquired complications and avoidable hospital readmissions is complementary to the quality data we have been publishing since 2012.
“By working in partnership to reduce waste and inefficiency, we’re helping to keep private healthcare accessible and affordable, and allowing scarce resources to be redirected to where they are most needed.”
Managing Director of Medibank, George Savvides, said that the renewed partnership was a great example of how hospitals and insurers could work together to help tackle the growing challenges facing Australia’s health system.
“This is all about spending our members’ premiums wisely and this renewal reflects the importance of the performance-based contracts that Medibank is implementing with our hospital providers, which now cover nearly 70 percent of major private hospitals across Australia.
“This is an important time for private healthcare in Australia, with a number of government reviews currently seeking to address the affordability and value of private health insurance, as well as the long-term sustainability of the healthcare system as a whole. This agreement between one of Australia’s largest private hospital providers and Australia’s leading health insurer sets an example of how industry partners can work together to maintain excellent healthcare, while also reducing rising health costs.
“Medibank funds over 165,000 episodes of care each year in Healthscope’s 46 hospitals right across Australia. We are pleased that Medibank members will continue to be able to access high quality care within this national network”
The new contract will commence from March 2016.
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