Commonwealth Numbered Acts

Health Acts Amendment Act 1981 No. 118 of 1981 - SECT 55

55. (1) Section 40AA of the Principal Act is amended-

   (a)  by omitting from sub-section (3) ''(not being a Government nursing
        home)''; and

   (b)  by omitting sub-sections (5A) and (5B) and substituting the following
        sub-sections:

''(5A) The approval of premises as an approved nursing home is subject to the
condition that, where a Commonwealth benefit is payable, or has been paid, to
the proprietor of the nursing home in respect of a patient for a period, the
proprietor shall deduct the amount of that benefit from the fees charged in
respect of nursing home care for that patient during that period.

''(5B) For the purposes of the operation of the condition set out in
sub-section (5A), any Commonwealth benefit that would be payable to the
proprietor of the nursing home but for the suspension of the approval of the
nursing home shall be deemed to be payable to that proprietor.'';

   (c)  by omitting sub-paragraph (6) (c) (ii) and substituting the following
        sub-paragraph:

''(ii) no extra charge will be payable by or on behalf of a qualified nursing
patient in the nursing-home unless-

                (A)  the charge is in respect of a matter that is not related
                     to the nursing-home care provided for the patient; and

                (B)  the service for which the charge is made has been
                     requested by the patient;''; and

   (d)  by inserting after paragraph (6) (c) the following paragraph:

''(ca) a condition that, where the proprietor of the nursing-home charges a
qualified nursing-home patient in the nursing-home with a fee or extra charge,
the proprietor shall-

        (i)    furnish to the patient an account setting out the amount of
               that fee or extra charge and the service to which it relates;
               and

        (ii)   file, and keep filed, with the records of the nursing-home kept
               in compliance with section 61 a copy of the account so
               furnished;''; and

   (e)  by inserting after sub-section (6) the following sub-section:

''(6A) A reference in the condition set out in paragraph (6) (c) to a request
by a patient for a service for which a charge is made shall be read as not
including a request the making of which by the patient is, or was, a condition
of his admission to, or of his remaining in, the nursing home.''.

(2) Notwithstanding the amendment made by sub-section (1), a condition to
which the approval of premises as an approved nursing home was subject under
sub-section 40AA (5A) of the Principal Act immediately before the commencement
of this section, being a condition that was set out in paragraph (b) or (c) of
that sub-section, continues to apply in relation to-

   (a)  any payment of nursing home fund benefit to the proprietor of the
        nursing home made after the commencement of this section; or

   (b)  any entitlement to the payment of nursing home fund benefit that
        accrues to the proprietor of the nursing home after the commencement
        of this section.
(3) In sub-section (2), ''nursing home fund benefit'' means an amount payable
under the rules of a registered hospital benefits organization in respect of a
person who was an insured nursing home patient for the purposes of the
National Health Act 1953 at any time before the commencement of this section.