1. Interpretation

(1) In this Schedule:

facility means a private hospital or private day hospital facility specified in clause 3;

HPPA means hospital-purchaser provider agreement; and

RHBO means registered health benefits organization; and

similar arrangement includes all agreements, except HPPAs, that have the effect of enabling payments to be made to a facility according to provisions (including pricing provisions) stated under these agreements.

(2) In this Schedule, except in subclause 1(4), the Australian Capital Territory is taken to be part of the State of New South Wales and the Northern Territory is taken to be part of the State of South Australia.

(3) In this Schedule, private hospitals are comparable if they fall within the same class from the following list:

(a) private hospitals which provide psychiatric care for at least 50% of the episodes of hospital treatment;

(b) private hospitals which provide rehabilitation care for at least 50% of the episodes of hospital treatment;

(c) private hospitals which do not fall into categories (a) or (b), with up to and including 50 licensed beds;

(d) private hospitals which do not fall into categories (a) or (b) with more than 50 licensed beds and up to and including 100 licensed beds;

(e) private hospitals which do not fall into categories (a) or (b), with more than 100 licensed beds, without an accident and emergency unit or a specialised cardiac care unit;

(f) private hospitals which do not fall into categories (a) or (b), with more than 100 licensed beds, with either (or both) an accident and emergency unit or a specialised cardiac care unit.

Note: Some expressions used in this Schedule are defined in subsection 4(1) of the National Health Act 1953 (“Act”) or subsection 3(1) of the Health Insurance Act 1973 including:

• day hospital facility;
• hospital-purchaser provider agreement;
• private hospital; and
• registered health benefits organization.

(4) In subclause 1(3), a reference to ‘licensed beds’ is a reference to the beds or patients that a private hospital is permitted, under State or Territory legislation in the State or Territory where the private hospital is located.