Hospitals

Commonwealth Hospital Declaration

Hospital declaration is made by the Minister for Health and Ageing (or Minister’s delegate) pursuant to s.121-5(6) of the Commonwealth’s Private Health Insurance Act 2007 (“the PHI Act”) for private health insurance benefits, the Medicare Benefits Scheme and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, where applicable. Declaration is a legal instrument, signed by the Minister for Health and Ageing (or Minister’s delegate). It takes effect on the date it is signed and cannot be made retrospectively.

In deciding whether to declare that a facility is a hospital, or to revoke such a declaration, the Minister (or delegate) must have regard to matters specified in s.121-5(7) of the PHI Act. The PHI Act can be accessed at: http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/C2011C00467.

Requirements for a new hospital declaration

A facility must obtain a declaration that it is a hospital, whether or not it already has such declaration in force, under the following circumstances:

commencement of new facility;

change of existing hospital’s registered business name;

change of existing hospital’s physical location (address); and

amalgamation of existing hospitals.

These conditions apply equally to both public and private hospitals.

In the event where a declaration is sought for matters described above, for best administrative practice and to assist the Minister for Health and Ageing (or Minister’s delegate) in deciding whether to declare that a facility is a hospital, the facility is required to provide the following evidence:

For public hospitals

Public Information Form (PDF 55 KB), and

Copy of an accreditation certificate (or evidence that accreditation process has commenced)

For private hospitals

Private Hospital Information Form (PDF 35 KB)

Copy of state/territory hospital licence, and

Copy of an accreditation certificate (or evidence that accreditation process has commenced)

Note: Under the circumstances where a new private hospital is located on the same ground as a public hospital, or located within the public hospital buildings; the co-located hospitals, both public and private hospitals are also required to complete the Co-located Form (PDF 25 KB). This is in addition to the above listed requirements.

For further information regarding the hospital declaration process, please email: hospital.declarations.info@health.gov.au

Hospital Provider Number

A hospital provider number is a unique identifier number, allocated by the Medicare Australia upon the Department’s request on behalf of a declared hospital. The issuance of a provider number is directly linked to the hospital declaration by the Minister of Health and Ageing (or Minister’s delegate), in that, only a facility that has been declared as a hospital will be issued a hospital provider number.

Current Listing of Commonwealth declared hospitals

Please email hospital.declarations.info@health.gov.au if you wish to obtain a current listing of Commonwealth declared public hospitals, private hospitals and day hospital facilities.

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