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CLAUSE NOTES
Health Amendment (Fees Validation) Bill 2015
Clause 1 Short Title
Clause 2 Commencement
Provides for the Act to commence on the date of Royal Assent.
Clause 3 Principal Regulations
Names the Health (Fees) Regulations 2007 as the Principal
Regulations.
Clause 4 Regulation 3 amended (Interpretation)
Amends Regulation 3 of the Principal Regulations by inserting
definitions of “hospital” and “private hospital”, and substituting the
definition of “nursing-home-type patient” with a reference to
regulation 3A.
Clause 5 Regulation 3A inserted
Inserts a new regulation 3A into the Principal Regulations to define
the term “nursing-home-type patient” for the purposes of the
Principal Regulations.
The new definition replicates required elements of the definition of
nursing-home-type patient from the Commonwealth Health
Insurance Act 1973 prior to the amendment of that Act on 1 April
2007. In particular, these elements relate to the acute care
certificate, and how the period that is counted.
Together with regulation 5, this clarifies which patients can be
charged these fees on which days.
For example, a nursing-home-type patient is charged on the 36th
day of admission if:
the person is in a public hospital receiving accommodation
and nursing care; and
the person has been receiving such care in the hospital for
a continuous period of more than 35 days (that is, the
person is not charged for any of the first 35 days);
the patient is not certified by a medical practitioner is being
in need of acute care on that day.
As a further example, that same patient may be certified on the
37th day as needing acute care, and therefore is not charged a fee
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on that day. If that same patient is subsequently not certified as
needing acute care on the 38th day, the patient is charged a fee on
that day. If that same patient is then discharged for 7 days or less
and then re-admitted and not certified for acute care, the patient is
charged on the day of re-admission. And so on.
The provisions provide for the calculation of the 35 day period.
For example, the continuous 35 day period first starts on
admission to a public or private hospital. Counting of the
continuous period is not effected by whether the person is
certified as needing acute care or not. Counting continues if the
patient is transferred between hospitals. Counting is effectively
reset by any discharge period of more than 7 days, but otherwise
is effectively only paused during discharge periods of 7 days or less.
Clause 6 Regulation 4 amended (Fees for non-nursing-home-type patients)
Regulation 4(1) currently provides the regulation only applies to
persons who are not nursing-home-type patients.
As patients’ status can potentially change from one day to another,
depending on length of stay and acute care certification, clause 6
omits regulation 4(1), but also amends 4(2) and 4(3). The
intention is to clarify the Regulation 4 fees are only payable on days
the person is not a nursing-home-type patient.
Clause 7 Regulation 5 substituted
Regulation 5 currently provides that the fees specified in Schedule
2 of the Regulations are prescribed as the fees payable by or on
behalf of a nursing-home-type patient for hospital services
provided to the nursing-home-type patient in a public hospital.
As patients’ status can potentially change from one day to another,
depending on length of stay and acute care certification, clause 7
substitutes a new Regulation 5 to clarify that the fees in Schedule 2
may be charged to a patient on any day on which the patient is a
nursing home type patient.
Clause 8 Principal Act
Names the Health Act 1997 as the Principal Act.
Clause 9 Section 7A inserted
Inserts a new section 7A into the Principal Act to validate certain
fees charged for the validation period, being the period from 1
April 2007 until the commencement date.
The new section 7A defines the two regulations which were in
force during that validation period, and the subsequent regulations
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by reference to the regulations amended by the Bill.
Subject to the provisions, the section validates fees that were
charged under either of the regulations that were in force in
respect of a period within the validation period, that would have
been invalidly charged by reason only that those regulations were
in effect, rather than the subsequent regulations.
For example, any fees validly charged under the former regulations
remain validly charged. Any fees that were invalidly charged only
because the former rather than subsequent regulations were in
place are taken to always have been validly charged and, if
collected, validly collected.
The provision allows for the regulations to be amended or
rescinded in future in the usual way, by further regulations being
made under the Act.
Clause 10 Repeal of Act
Provides for the Amendment Act to be repealed one year after
commencement. This has no effect on the amendments as they
are incorporated into the Principal Act and regulations.
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