Understanding what nearly half the Australian population chooses when it comes to their health care is a critical reason for ACEM to highlight the important role private hospital emergency departments play in the health system.

That's the view of FACEM Dr Michael Ben-Meir, Chair of the College’s Private Practice Committee.
 
The College’s Statement on the Role of Private Emergency Departments, which was updated this year following extensive work, has been endorsed by the Council of Advocacy, Practice and Partnerships.
 
Download the statement here
 
ACEM position
 
ACEM's positon on the role of private hospital EDs is:
 
ACEM recognises that private EDs are important components of acute health care systems. Emergency departments provide patients with access to specialised, quality care from staff that are undertaking, or have undertaken, significant specialist training.
ACEM supports patient choice and advocates for patients to make informed decisions about their care. ACEM considers that government and private health insurers can do more to facilitate and communicate options available to patients about their care choices and ACEM supports efforts to achieve this.
ACEM considers that private EDs are an additional resource. Private EDs are well placed to take a consistent and growing number of patients to assist public EDs in their local area to cope with increasing demand pressures. Private EDs are also well positioned to help jurisdictional capacity in times of major incident and disaster response. ACEM considers that a more even distribution of patient demand may result in benefits to patients’ ED experiences, and across the broader hospital system.
 
It’s about choice – for patients and emergency physicians
 
Dr Ben-Meir said private EDS were all about “choices” for both patients and clinicians.
 
“It’s about a different way of practicing,” Dr Ben-Meir said. “But it is not to say one [the public health system and the private health system] is better than the other.
 
“It is to give everyone – members and trainees, and the public – the opportunity to understand the differences, experience the differences and make their own decision.”
 
‘Rising demand for services’
 
In 2015/16, there were 630 private hospitals and 30 private EDs in Australian hospitals.
 
The increase of private hospitals and private hospitals with EDs in Australia is in response to an increase in patient demand. In 2015/16, approximately 538,000 presentations were managed by dedicated EDs in Australian acute and psychiatric private hospitals.
 
Concurrent to the rising demand for services is the proportion of Australians with private health insurance, which in 2017 was 46.5%.
 
ACEM's statement also covers the issues of training opportunities and professional equity.

ACEM supports the inclusion of private EDs within specialty medical training programs/initiatives. Private EDs are a resource for trainees to gain valuable emergency medicine experience, which provides an avenue for developing a greater understanding of the private hospital system.

“You can bring very good ideas from public practice into private practice, and vice versa. So in that sense, working in both spheres can be mutually beneficial," Dr Ben-Meir said.

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