The private hospital operator’s Tino La Spina has reportedly made an extraordinary statement in an online briefing to staff.
Bupa will buy Healthscope “over my dead body”, the embattled hospital operator’s CEO Tino La Spina has reportedly pronounced in an online briefing to staff.
As reported this morning in the Australian Financial Review, Mr La Spina said he can’t be clearer.
“I won’t be part of anything that involves a health insurer coming to own Healthscope,” he was quoted as saying.
“I think that is abhorrent. The way they have underfunded hospitals and then come in to seek to take advantage, to try to pick it up on the cheap when they have created a situation, or at least contributed to the situation.”
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It’s been reported for some weeks that Bupa was considering whether to purchase Healthscope, which went into receivership last week.
It’s fair to say the relationship between Bupa and Healthscope has long been a little bit thorny.
Last year, their relationship broke down after Healthscope announced it would slug the health fund’s customers an extra $100 for an overnight stay. It took 3.5 months of protracted negotiations, but eventually they signed a new, two-year, in-principle agreement.
When approached by HSD on Tuesday, Healthscope and Bupa said they wouldn’t be responding to comments.
It’s believed Mr La Spina hopes to stay on as Healthscope CEO after a buyer is found, but admitted a health fund “won’t have me sitting there as their CEO”, he reportedly said.
He may have a supporter in federal health minister Mark Butler who said last week that he also remains sceptical of health insurers owning hospitals.
“There is a question about the degree of vertical integration that is healthy in our market,” he told reporters.
“Insurers are obviously the funders of the private hospital operations, funded through the private health insurance premiums of millions of Australian households.
“For a long time now we’ve had a position in Australia that the funders or the insurers should not also be vertically integrated into the delivery of care services.
“I know the Australian Medical Association and other stakeholders have a strong view about that. We would want to look at that very, very closely before we saw any further vertical integration between insurers into the delivery of care,” he said.
Related
Bupa is not the only rumoured company circling Healthscope with Ramsay Health Care and St Vincent’s Health also reportedly interested.
A potential bid by Calvary Healthcare was also reported yesterday in The Australian. It’s believed the not-for-profit operator is pursuing some of the best hospitals within the group, including Knox Private Hospital in Melbourne, Norwest Private Hospital and Prince of Wales Private Hospital in Sydney, the National Capital Private Hospital in Canberra, and Gold Coast Private Hospital.
It also flagged that if Calvary Health went in with Japara Health, which it bought in 2021, it might be able to buy the entire Healthscope business.
Receivers McGrathNicol said it was too early to be specific on the timeline for the sale process, although some reports have speculated around 10 weeks until a new owner or multiple owners are found.
Mr La Spina reportedly admitted that receivers would prefer a single buyer for the entire business.
“I’m long enough in the tooth that I’ve seen many transactions fall over at the last minute, and the receivers would much rather do one transaction that is clean, lock stock and barrel, and get it done,” he reportedly said to staff.
As long as it’s not Bupa…
