ACCC review of Healthe Care’s proposal to buy Pulse Health, including the Forster Private Hospital

Overview

Healthe Care is planning to buy Pulse Health who owns 12 healthcare facilities in Australia – five in NSW, four in Queensland, and three in Victoria.

In particular, Pulse Health owns the Forster Private Hospital (formerly known as the Cape Hawke Community Private Hospital). Healthe Care owns the Mayo Private Hospital.

If Healthe Care buys Pulse Health, it will own the only two private hospitals in the Forster/Great Lakes and Taree/Manning areas of NSW.

The ACCC is considering whether this deal will reduce competition for health care services, particularly in the Forster/Great Lakes and Taree/Manning areas of NSW.

If you live in the one of those areas, the ACCC would like to hear from you about the following:

• Which hospital(s) you have recently attended for treatment and why you chose to go to that hospital. Was it because of fees, service quality, location, reputation or the availability of your doctor?
• What other hospitals you considered.
• How far you would travel to receive medical treatment. Does this depend on the type of treatment you are receiving?

How to make a comment

You can make a submission online (using the link below) or by post to:

ACCC Merger Investigations Branch
Attention: Elizabeth Elias/Fiona Sam
GPO Box 3131
Canberra ACT 2601

Your comments will not be published on the ACCC’s website. If you would like to know more about confidentiality or have any questions, please contact us.

More detail about the ACCC’s review is on the public register. We update our public register throughout the review.

If the ACCC forms the view that the proposed acquisition is likely to substantially lessen competition, we can decide to ‘oppose’ it.

If that happens, Healthe Care may decide not to proceed with the transaction, or can restructure the transaction to address the ACCC’s concerns. However, we cannot stop Healthe Care from going ahead with the transaction – only a court has the power to do that. If Healthe Care decided it still wanted to go ahead with the transaction, the ACCC can apply to the Federal Court for orders which may include an injunction, divestiture, or penalties.

For more information about the legal test, see the ACCC's approach to merger reviews.