Australia & New Zealand Society of Vascular Surgeons

The Medical Indemnity (Prudential Supervision and Product Standards) Act 2003 was passed in March 2003 and introduced July 1, 2003. The objects of the Act are; “(a) to ensure that health care professionals have access to medical indemnity cover that is provided by properly regulated insurers; and (b) to specify minimum standards for medical indemnity cover that is provided to health care professionals.” The Act prohibits the provision of medical indemnity directly to health care professionals other than via individual contracts of insurance. Australian medical indemnity had for more than 100 years, until the introduction of the Act, been provided mainly through membership of discretionary, not-for-profit, medical defence organisations (MDOs), as it still is in most Commonwealth countries. Other associated legislation, both Federal and States have further distorted the previous indemnity model. The introduction of various legislation has had many anticipated and some unanticipated consequences. Since the introduction of the Act, all Australian MDOs and their members (with the exception of United Medical Protection) have been affected. The responses of stakeholders have been indicated by written and other communications both in the public arena and at an MDO-member level. Those communications have indicated a great deal of anxiety and confusion amongst medical practitioners, which has translated to changes in their behaviour. Those changes include risk avoidance behaviour that has had, and will continue to have, significant flow-on effects on the range, type and location of medical services, and the cost and availability of those services.