Board consultation on prostheses welcomed

Wednesday, 16 December 2020

Broad consultation on prostheses welcomed
A broad consultation process with all the key industry players is needed to ensure reform of the Prostheses
List is robust, says Australian Private Hospitals Association (APHA) CEO Michael Roff.

The aim should be to make the system work more effectively for patients, he said.

"We welcome the opportunity to be part of these discussions, which to date have not fully involved private
hospitals, consumers or the medical profession. Considering doctors determine which prostheses they use
in surgery, particularly in the private setting, it is important this anomaly is corrected.

"APHA is supportive of reform of the Prostheses List, but reform developed without consulting all
stakeholders is dangerous and could have a number of unintended consequences for patients."
The Department of Health has released a circular making clear neither of the two reports released today
reflect a settled position of the Government and announcing a consultation period, open until mid-February,
will follow.

"Neither report released today has been able to reach definitive conclusions. Both acknowledge the
significant risk of unintended consequences that could limit access to care, increase costs and cost-shift
from insurers to patients. There is little gain from prostheses list changes if health insurance premium
growth slows momentarily, only for out-of-pocket costs for patients to increase."
Mr Roff said reform of the Prostheses List should be used to make new technologies available to patients.

"We want to ensure sustainable access to technologies for patients without having out-of-pocket costs.

Australia has a first-class health system and patients should have the benefit of first-class surgical
advancements.

"We look forward to continuing our discussions with the Federal Government to find a workable solution
benefiting patients, not just private health insurers," Mr Roff said.

-ENDS-

Media contact: Frith Rayner, Director Communications and Marketing, 0413 971 999

The Australian Private Hospitals Association (APHA) is the peak industry body representing the private hospital and
day surgery sector. The private hospital sector treats 3.73 million patients a year, including treatment of more than a
third of chemotherapy, 60 percent of all surgery, 74 percent of all elective musculoskeletal surgery and 79 percent of
rehabilitation.

Level 3 /11 National Circ, Barton ACT 2600. PO Box 4502, Kingston ACT 2604. [T] 02 6273 9000 [F] 02 6273 7000
[E] [W] www.apha.org.au [FB] ValuingPrivateHospitals [Twitter] @priv8hospitals
ABN 82 008 623 809

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