Health insurance giant Medibank is stepping up its campaign against paying for hospital “mistakes” with the public release of the “events” it deems preventable.
Medibank has today released its list of 165 adverse events that will no longer pay for, which has been the centre of its bitter dispute with Calvary Hospitals.
Medibank also announced today it would introduce an independent clinical-review process to clarify situations where responsibility for the adverse event was unclear.
Medibank has been locked in a heated contract dispute with Calvary after Medibank refused to renew a deal with the hospital unless it agreed to a list of what the insurer believes are preventable mistakes it will no longer pay for.
The Australian Medical Association has backed Calvary and its president Brian Owler has called for federal Health Minister Sussan Ley to step in.
Medibank’s executive general manager, Andrew Wilson, said today that the company had heard the feedback from medical specialists that keeping its list of 165 adverse events confidential could cause confusion and genuine misunderstanding.
“That’s why we have made our list available on our website. We wanted to alleviate any misconceptions or confusion that the clinical community, or their patients, may have,” he said.
“At the heart of this is the fact that every year we wait, more and more Australians are subjected to the pain, discomfort and risk of these preventable events.”
Mr Wilson also said he supported Minister Ley’s request that the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care fast-track a standard list of avoidable medical mistakes in hospitals.
“This process will accelerate what is an important debate around the quality and affordability of care,” he said.
“We hope to contribute to it. We have always maintained open communication channels with specialists and hospitals, and through our discussions we understand that adverse events that happen in hospitals are not always black and white.
“We accept there may be a small number of circumstances where hospitals do everything in their power and yet incidents still occur. This is why we are introducing an independent clinical review process.”