Important update about IPHoA hospitals.

We’re one of the not-for-profit health funds represented by the Australian Health Services Alliance (AHSA). Represented through the AHSA, we had an arrangement with the IPHoA Group to cap fees to our members attending private hospitals run by the group.

The group proposed to charge our patients additional fees, on top of the agreed maximum fee, which we and other not-for-profit funds represented by the AHSA have resisted. The IPHoA group has now moved to terminate their arrangements with AHSA, impacting us and 22 other health funds.

• Essendon Private Clinic
• Holroyd Private Hospital
• Longueville Private Hospital
• Malvern Private Hospital
• Melbourne Eastern Private Hospital
• Sydney Private Hospital.

Hospital agreements are crucial in maintaining transparency and ensuring a clear fee schedule. These agreements outline charges for in-patient accommodation, theatre use, and special unit fees, all of which are covered by Health Partners.

If you receive treatment at a hospital that doesn’t have an agreement with us, we can still offer some benefits, but they’ll be much less than what you'd get at our contracted facilities. So, if you're treated at a non-contracted hospital, you’ll most likely face higher out-of-pocket costs than receiving treatment at a hospital where there is an agreement.

Agreement terminations will affect the health funds represented by the Australian Health Services Alliance (AHSA) – all these funds are small to medium-sized, not-for-profit heath funds.

Many doctors have arrangements with more than one hospital. If your hospital treatment falls outside the above transition arrangements, we encourage you to speak to your doctor about your options to book with them at an alternative hospital.

We have an extensive network of hospital providers.

IPHoA

Essendon Private Clinic

Holroyd Private Hospital

Longueville Private Hospital

Malvern Private Hospital

Melbourne Eastern Private Hospital

Sydney Private Hospital

When negotiating hospital contracts on behalf of our members, we need to balance impact to our whole membership base and it’s not sustainable to just keep paying more as it would make premiums unaffordable for members over time.

As a not-for-profit health fund, we will always look for ways to add value to our members and ensure accessible healthcare. We have successful agreements with over 500 private hospitals across Australia. In these agreements we advocate fair terms and conditions that avoid putting additional pressure on our members’ health fund contributions.

We’re working to reach a new agreement with the IPHoA Group, and we’ll continue to advocate for you and strongly resist any increase in charges that could unfairly impact on our members.

If you’ve already booked treatment at one of these hospitals, there is a transition agreement in place.

As part of a transition agreement, there will be no change to your coverage if the following describe your hospital admission:

• It’s already scheduled and begins before 16 March 2026
• It’s pre-booked before 16 March 2026
• It’s for pregnancy and birth (where you have booked before 16 March 2026)
• It’s part of an ongoing course of treatment (e.g. chemotherapy, dialysis, psychiatric, rehabilitation) that started prior to 16 March 2026 and will continue until, and including, 15 September 2026 (6 months from the termination date). If your treatment is scheduled past 15 September 2026, consider discussing alternatives with your specialist.
• It’s an emergency admission and you are admitted before 15 September 2026.

If you haven’t booked treatment

You can still choose to be treated at an IPHoA Group hospital from 16 March 2026; however the hospital may choose to charge an additional out-of-pocket expense.

It’s the responsibility of the hospital to explain any hospital out-of-pocket costs to you in detail prior to you agreeing to treatment. Knowing how much your admission and treatment will cost is called Informed Financial Consent. We’re happy to help guide you through this process.

Many doctors also have arrangements with more than one hospital. If your hospital treatment falls outside the above transition arrangements, consider discussing with your doctor your options to book with them at an alternative hospital. We have a large network of hospital providers where you may have lower out-of-pocket costs.

You can see our full hospital provider network and learn more about these changes through our Provider Search.

There are a couple of things you can do to avoid out-of-pocket costs:

1. Check whether you are covered by the transitional agreements.
2. Talk to your specialist or doctor about whether they have arrangements with hospitals outside the IPHoA Group network – you may have the opportunity to be treated by them in a hospital we have a current contract with.
3. If your doctor only works at IPHoA hospitals, we encourage you to talk to them about the fees for your treatment to see whether they can offer any suggestions on how to reduce costs. You can also choose to seek treatment from another doctor or specialist; however, this may need new referral appointments.

Many doctors have arrangements with more than one hospital. For hospital treatments that fall outside the transition arrangements and to avoid out-of-pocket costs, we encourage you to speak to your doctor about your options to book with them at an alternative hospital.

We have a large network of hospital providers where you may have lower out-of-pocket costs.

You can still choose to be treated at an IPHoA Group hospital from 16 March 2026; however the hospital may choose to charge an additional out-of-pocket expense.

It’s the responsibility of the hospital to explain any hospital out-of-pocket costs to you in detail prior to you agreeing to treatment. Knowing how much your admission and treatment will cost is called Informed Financial Consent. We’re happy to help guide you through this process.