Thanx Andrea, the forward I sent on this to the Ozmid list (only a half
hour before you sent this) never got through (or at least it dint end up
in my inbox via Ozmid). I figure that about half of my posts to this
list actually get through.
Maybe I'll just send the stuff I want to get onto this list to someone
else to send for me :))
Well done.
cheers
jennifairy
Andrea Bilcliff wrote:
To help keep everyone in the loop, here are Joy's notes from the
Melbourne meeting yesterday.
Andrea Bilcliff
----- Original Message -----
*From:* Joy Johnston <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
*Sent:* Wednesday, September 06, 2006 9:19 AM
*Subject:* [Midwives_Insurance] Notes from meeting with Contracting
Advantage
Meeting for midwives with Anne O’Connor of Contracting Advantage (CA)
Tuesday 5/9/06 3-5pm
At Sunshine Hospital
Midwives present: Robyn Thompson, Helen Sandner, Andrea Bilcliff,
Michelle Popple, Bronwyn Harris, Clare Lane, Kayleen Scuderi, Veronica
Zeinstra, Joy Johnston
Purpose of meeting: to discuss CA’s offer to provide Professional
Indemnity (PI) insurance for self-employed midwives.
For information on CA, go to www.contractingadvantage.com/
<http://www.contractingadvantage.com/>
CA is a private company, and they have already negotiated a plan for
$10 Million cover with their broker, Jardine Lloyd Thomas in Perth.
A midwife who signs up with CA would be charged an annual fee of $500,
plus approx 6% of all invoices we create.
The system that they offer provides an accounting system whereby a
midwife would give an invoice to a client for her services, and the
client would deposit the money into an account belonging to CA. (If
cash is paid, the midwife can transfer the money). CA processes the
money into Tax 20%, agency management fee 5%, and insurances approx
1%, and anything else that the midwife wants to have taken out such as
superannuation, or income protection. The remainder is sent the next
day to the midwife’s account, and the midwife receives a statement of
earnings. CA’s agency fee provides bookkeeping services for members,
including preparation of BAS.
CA has no interest in the fee charged, or the number of births, or any
details of how the midwife practises. They need to be sure that a
person is a midwife, and this can be checked via the public register
at the Board. (they do the same for tradesmen &c)
CA charges a $2,500 excess on every claim. There are some technical
questions that Robyn put, and these need to be answered formally. I
felt satisfied from my perspective that the plan would provide PI
insurance, which is the big need, and the first priority.
There are 2 systems operated by CA. The first is what I have described
above, which would provide for independent midwives such as those of
us who are practising now.
The other system is called ODCO, which is a self employed contractor
who does most of her/his work for one employer. CA has an arrangement
with the employer, and the employer pays the money earned by the
independent contractors in the same way that nurse agencies get paid
for supplying staff. The possibilities here are very big, in that
hospitals could use this system for midwives who want to be self
employed but want to provide the acute/ birth care in the hospital.
Also this system could replace nurses agencies that are already in
operation, if it had an enterprising business person to run it. This
idea has a lot of possibilities.
The next step is to get 200 midwives. The list that Barb Vernon has
generated has 90 names, and we know others who have not yet put their
names on the list. There may not be 200 who are currently earning
enough to make the $500 seem reasonable. Those who are working
primarily in hospital jobs, but are willing to attend homebirths
occasionally may fee it’s too much. If you spread it over even 10
births in a year it’s not much, and can be passed on to the client,
but if you only have 2 births in the year, that’s a big burden.
However I think once the insurance becomes available the pressure will
quickly mount on all midwives to get it, so it won’t be an option any
longer. This possible shortfall in numbers may be something that needs
attention – perhaps pressure on health ministers to provide support to
get it started initially.
I hope this gives you useful information. I do think it will open the
possibilities of hospital visiting access for independent midwives.
If you know any midwife who is interested but is not on one of these
yahoo groups, please forward this message to her/him and ask them to
request an invitation to the list.
many thanks
Joy Johnston
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