What is the HCCS
The HCCS helps indemnity insurers with the cost of large insurance payouts.
It is one of the Australian Government’s medical and midwife indemnity insurance schemes.
Services Australia administers the HCCS for the government.
Why is it important
Large payouts can make it harder for medical indemnity insurers to provide affordable insurance cover.
The HCCS helps to lower insurance premiums for practitioners by reducing the:
- payouts insurers must pay
- amount of reinsurance insurers must buy to fund large claims.
Who is it for
The HCCS helps medical indemnity insurers with the cost of claims against doctors, allied health professionals and midwives. They must:
- be in private practice
- have medical indemnity insurance
- be engaged as an employee (midwives only).
Eligible claims
The claim must be higher than the HCCS threshold of $500,000.
If the claim is against:
- an allied health professional – the incident must have occurred before 1 July 2020
- a midwife engaged as an employee – the incident must have occurred after 30 June 2010 but before 1 July 2020.
Insurers can find out more about the HCCS threshold and eligible claims on the Services Australia website.
Allied health and midwife legacy cover
The HCCS covered doctors, allied health professionals and midwives until 1 July 2020, when the government launched the Allied Health High Cost Claims Scheme.
The HCCS continues to cover allied health professionals for incidents that occurred before that date. This includes midwives who are engaged as employees and registered and endorsed by the Nursing and Midwifery Board.
What is covered
The HCCS reimburses 50% of the insurance payout amount that exceeds the HCCS threshold, up to the practitioner’s cover limit.
The HCCS does not cover the whole payout amount. This ensures insurers take some of the risk of high payouts.
If the payout exceeds the cover limit
If the insurance payout exceeds the practitioner’s cover limit, the claim may also be eligible for the Exceptional Claims Scheme.
How it works
The Australian Government fully funds the HCCS. Insurers can apply to Services Australia for an HCCS payment.
Legislation
The government set up the HCCS under the Medical Indemnity Act 2002. Find out about the legislation that supports indemnity schemes.
Contacts
Medical and professional indemnity insurance contact
