Time to govern ASX listed Companies access to Commonwealth Funds

Healius CEO Maxine Jaquet's sudden resignation this week, following her communication with staff during the routine 1st half of the 2024 financial year wrap-up, has sent shockwaves through the workforce. The news came just after she announced plans to host the first CEO town hall for 2024 in a few weeks.

This departure comes as a surprise, especially considering Maxine's efforts throughout 2023 to defend Healius's financial stability amid an attempted merger by rival Australian Clinical Labs. Despite her efforts, cuts to regional services, foundational operational costs, and support staff have led to service inconsistencies, prompting doctors to refer patients elsewhere. Moreover, doctors are opting for contracts with companies facing fewer operational issues for Medical Practice Collection Rooms, exacerbating the staff shortage. This scarcity has forced the recruitment of undertrained individuals, causing skilled Phlebotomists to bear the brunt of responsibilities, leading many to retire early, or seek work in other industries. The sector has seen a significant loss of skilled employees, estimated at 30% over the last 12 months.

The Phlebotomists Council of Australia (PCA), the professional body representing pathology workers has been successful in petitioning for stricter conditions for Medicare fund eligibility through an enhanced Accreditation Scheme and will be submitting a formal submission into the Federal Covid Review around the misappropriation of Commonwealth Funds during Covid and remain committed to providing livable wages for those in the profession. PCA was alerted to the Australian Pathology Campaign conveniently just as Enterprise Agreement Negotiations started at QML, the Queensland Pathology Subsidiary of Healius. How convenient!

Australian Pathology, representing the three largest private pathology companies, is advocating for increased Medicare funding under the guise of "Keep Pathology Bulk Billed." Concerns have arisen regarding patients' access to blood tests unless they sign petitions, with claims that tests will no longer be bulk billed. Australian Pathology is urging Australians to support the reindexing of Pathology Fees in the upcoming federal budget, seeking additional funds despite existing bulk billing. The Phlebotomists Council of Australia (PCA) has petitioned for stricter Medicare fund eligibility conditions through an enhanced Accreditation Scheme, also submitting a formal request to the Federal Government for the Covid Review to address the concerns that Commonwealth Funds were misappropriated during the pandemic.

This sector had unprecedented profits from Covid PCR Testing at a time when every other business was doing it rough. The CEO at the time, Malcolm Parmenter, reported in their 1st Financial Half report for 2021 (July 2020-Feb 2021) Revenue rose 22% to $711.4 million and divisional EBIT rose $74.3 million to $126.9 million. This performance was largely driven by robust COVID-19 testing volumes with more than 1.6 million COVID-19 tests conducted during the half, including more than 800,000 in Victoria

The people who work for Healius at the customer facing area are skilled clinicians willing to work better for their patients. They deserve a livable wage and their supportive bodies have additional training to skill this sector up so it can be reinvented post Covid and fill some of the gaps in the Australian Healthcare sector. 

Healthcare in Australia should be the best, the people who provide it should be highly valued and further education should be supported.