EmailHospital Circular 09/2001
Date Issued: 11 May 2001
Publication: 9/2001
Distribution: Public Hospitals
Subject: Provision of Information to Ambulance Services for Billing Purposes
Purpose: To advise hospitals that the Minister has made a declaration under section 141 to enable billing information to be provided to ambulance services
Some hospitals have been reluctant to provide patient billing details to ambulance services because of concerns about the confidentiality requirements of section 141 of the Health Services Act 1988. To address this concern, the Minister for Health has made a declaration under section 141(3)(h). Pursuant to the declaration hospitals can provide such information as is required to enable the ambulance service to accurately identify a person who was transported to the hospital by that ambulance service and to enable the ambulance service to:
- send an account
to request payment for services rendered by it in the course of attending
to that person and transporting that person to the hospital, to-
- the person concerned; or
- any other person or body who is responsible for paying for that service; or
- determine whether to send such an account.
For the purposes of this declaration, hospital means:
- a public hospital;
- a denominational hospital;
- a private hospital; or
- a multi purpose service.
For the purposes of this declaration, ambulance service means:
- Metropolitan Ambulance Service;
- Rural Ambulance Victoria; or
- Alexandra and District Ambulance Service.
This declaration applies to the giving of information by a hospital until 31 July 2002.
Given the nature of the emergency services provided by the ambulance services, it is not always possible for them to collect billing information from the patients they treat and transport. Withholding this information from the ambulance services has an adverse impact on the financial position of the ambulance services. The Department requests that hospitals cooperate with the ambulance services in their efforts to correctly identify those patients to whom they should be rendering an account. Ambulance services have been advised that the Ministerial declaration only applies in relation to the rendering of accounts and that information should not be requested for other purposes.
DR C W BROOK
DIRECTOR, ACUTE HEALTH
