ACL Acquisition of Healius – ACCC Inquiry

/0 Comments/in , /by

 

The Australian pathology industry is dominated by four large companies.  When measured using the number of Approved Collection Centres (ACCs) as a measure of market share three companies dominate the industry: Healius, Sonic and ACL have approximately 80% of the ACCs.

When the smaller share held by 4Cyte is added, the proportion of the market held by these four companies rises to over 90%.

On 23 March 2023  Australian Clinical Labs Ltd (ACL) made an off-market takeover offer for Healius Ltd offering 0.74 ACL shares for every Healius share. The offer period expires 29 September 2023.

For those General Practices with ACCs the maintenance of a competitive market for lease space in Practices is critical. Without a competitive market rents could be expected to decline over time, and the use of tenders processes or other arms-length negotiations to establish a market rent would become very difficult.

Read more

AGPA Webinar: Payroll Tax – Another View

/0 Comments/in , /by

Webinar

Tuesday 29 August 2023, 7:30pm AEST

7:30 pm Queensland, 7:00 pm SA, 5:30 pm WA

AGPA Webinar

Payroll Tax – Another View

Speakers

Paul Copeland, Director, William Buck

Ben Ryan, Senior Associate, Avant Law

 

State Payroll Tax is threatening to become a major threat to the viability of General Practices in many Australian States.

Victoria, NSW, Queensland and South Australia are all applying precedents which allow them to charge payroll tax on medical professional fees paid to independent GPs under conventional General Practice structures.

Queensland and South Australia have both announced a moratoriums on the application of payroll tax rulings but the outcome at the end of the moratoriums will apparently require PRT to be paid.

Practices are faced with either charging patient levies to cover the tax (with issues for bulk billing), or restructuring so that the tax provisions do not apply. The risks with restructuring are significant with potential changes to financial management practice and to the relationships within the Practice.

The speakers will discuss approaches which reduce PRT exposure risk while maintaining key functionality.

Book at

https://www.trybooking.com/CKRZA

Places will be limited, preference will be given to AGPA members.

For further information contact the AGPA Secretariat

Speaker Profiles are here

 

                                           

Australian General Practice Alliance (AGPA) Raises Concerns Over Government’s Decision on Prescription Exchange Provider Monopoly

/0 Comments/in /by

Media Release

Australian General Practice Alliance (AGPA) Raises Concerns Over Government’s Decision on Prescription Exchange Provider Monopoly

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
08/08/2023

The Australian General Practice Alliance (AGPA) maintains the recent decision by the Department of Health and Ageing, which attempts to mandate a single prescription exchange provider for publicly funded prescriptions runs counter to the interests of primary care sector and its patients and is by its design anti-competitive.

AGPA said the move eliminates the healthy competition that existed between MediSecure and Fred IT, two key companies providing prescription delivery services to the community since these services were being designed in 2009.

Read more