The Australian Medical Association says the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) must maintain previously agreed safeguards in any reauthorisation of Honeysuckle Health and nib to collectively negotiate and manage contracts with healthcare providers.
AMA President Dr Danielle McMullen said the AMA was not arguing that the ACCC should start again from scratch, but that all safeguards put in place as part of the existing authorisation must continue.
“Our position, which is detailed in our submission to the ACCC is that we can’t support reauthorisation unless these safeguards are maintained,” Dr McMullen said.
“Patients and doctors should not lose important protections simply because an authorisation is renewed.
“The 2021 authorisation was never unconditional, with the ACCC authorising the arrangement in 2021 with important restrictions, including limits on participation by major insurers and a shorter authorisation period than originally sought.
“Additional protections were subsequently agreed during Australian Competition Tribunal proceedings in 2022 to address concerns about clinical independence, patient choice, practitioner autonomy and transparency.”
Those protections remain relevant today, Dr McMullen said.
“This is fundamentally about patient choice and clinical independence. Decisions about patient care should remain between patients and their treating doctors.”
The AMA’s submission says commercial arrangements must not create pressure on doctors to make decisions that are not in a patient’s best interests.
“The AMA fought very hard to secure these critical safeguards, both though submissions to the ACCC and during proceedings before the Australian Competition Tribunal,” Dr McMullen said.
“Any future authorisation should preserve these safeguards that protect choice and independent clinical judgement.”
