In 2020, the Commonwealth of Australia and the States and Territories (the States) entered into the National Partnership Agreement (NPA) to provide financial assistance to the states COVID-19 pandemic response. The NPA covers the costs associated with utilising Private Health Service Providers to treat non COVID-19 and COVID-19 patients during the pandemic and includes guaranteeing the viability of private hospitals, to retain capacity for responding to COVID-19 and enable them to resume operations at the end of the pandemic.
The Victorian Department of Health (previously the Department of Health and Human Services) entered into a Private Hospital Funding Agreement (PHFA) with selected Private Hospital Operators (Operators) which sets out required obligations as well as principles of revenue and recoverable costs that Operators are to apply in demonstrating payments required to maintain their minimum viability consistent with funding principles under the NPA.
Effective 1 October 2021, the PHFA is the sole funding mechanism for public patients treated in private hospitals that have signed up to participate in the PHFA. The PHFA supersedes all other contract arrangements in place between public hospitals and private hospital providers.
List of operators currently in the PHFA
Reviewed 02 December 2021