Health Minister Mark Butler has ordered a review of private hospital licensing after health funds raised concerns about “cowboys” on the register.
The mastheads’ joint investigation withrevealed alleged malpractice and negligence at Cosmos Clinics, Australia’s largest cosmetic surgery provider, by doctors without proper surgical training performing procedures such as liposuction and Brazilian butt lifts.
After meeting with his state and territory counterparts to discuss cosmetic surgery regulation, Butler ordered the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care to “immediately begin work to safeguard patients by leading a review of licensing standards and arrangements of private hospitals, day procedure centres and clinics where cosmetic procedures are performed”.
Because claiming for private health funds is largely automated, there is no routine process for checking whether surgeries were medically indicated. David said the current system was operating “as a hospital subsidy scheme, rather than ensuring patient access to quality health care” and questioned why Cosmos was a Commonwealth-declared private hospital.“No facility should be declared a hospital by ticking a box. The facility needs to be inspected and subjected to ongoing monitoring ... Health fund members’ money should be funding quality health care in quality facilities.