By Corporal Nick Wiseman

THE new health services contract is designed to continue to provide "high quality health care in a timely fashion to our people when it is needed", according to Commander Joint Health Rear Admiral Robyn Walker.

Defence Science and Personnel Minister Warren Snowdon said Defence's contract with Medibank Health Solutions contained stronger monitoring and quality assurance measures than under previous health commercial arrangements.

"Under this contract there will be no reduction in health care entitlements to ADF members," Mr Snowdon said.

"Our Servicemen and women will continue to receive the highest quality of health care services."

He said the contract included detailed performance measures and reporting requirements related to delivery of health care services and clinical governance.

Defence retains full responsibility for, and oversight of, the healthcare services provided, not Medibank Health Solutions.

Rear Admiral Walker said the new contract was designed to provide consistent services around the country.

Previously, regional health centres established their own arrangements with medical providers. The new agreement will standardise arrangements under a national system, which will also relieve the administrative burden on units with national invoicing.

Members of the ADF will retain the right to a second opinion if they are not happy with their service.

Existing specialist health providers are in talks with Medibank about their individual circumstances, but Rear Admiral Walker said the negotiations were a commercial matter between those parties.

She said a media report that only medical practitioners who signed the new contract would be eligible to treat ADF personnel was untrue.

"If a member requires treatment and that is only achievable through a specialist who is not currently contracted to Medibank, we still reserve the right to use that person if it is the best medical option available," she said.

Rear Admiral Walker said privacy concerns were also unfounded.

"No medical-in-confidence information will be released without the consent of the patients," she said.

"The contract stipulated a report was expected back in a reasonable amount of time after a member had seen a specialist. This is no different to how it has been done previously; it's now just written into the contract."

Transition to the new four-year contract started in July.

1800 IM SICK

ADF members who fall sick or become injured after hours or in stand down periods can expect better support under the new health services contract.

The existing 1800 IM SICK hotline will be centralised to an existing established medical provider focused on assisting with medical attention and advice to ADF members when Service health care is not available.

Under the old system the number would route through to an available ADF health centre, which could have been interstate with medical staff that may have been unfamiliar with the member's area.

The new system will have the call answered by a central centre specialising in triaging medical situations over the phone and able to provide advice on regional medical facilities if needed.