04.04.14
Health Special Administration regime plans shelved
The government has decided not to proceed with its proposals to introduce a Health Special Administration (HSA) regime or risk pool.
Originally intended to be introduced this month, the decision means that if an independent provider of commissioner requested services (CRS) becomes insolvent, Monitor will not be able to place them into a special administration regime in order to safeguard essential services and standard insolvency procedures will continue to apply.
According to the Department of Health (DH), there is currently not enough information on which services provided by independent providers are considered to be CRS.
A HSA regime is designed to apply only to those services that are designated by commissioners as CRS. For independent providers of NHS services, commissioners will start to formally designate which, if any, services they provide are CRS from 1April 2014. This is also the date from which all eligible providers of NHS funded health careservices must be licensed by Monitor, the sector regulator.
However, the DH said it has been difficult to make an accurate estimate of which, or how many, services will be designated as CRS, or how many of these services are currently being delivered by independent providers.
This data will start to emerge from April 2014 and will evolve over the next one to two years as CRS designations become fully operational, during which time the DH can develop a more informed understanding of the CRS market.
DH added: “This information will prove valuable in not only informing how a HSA regime might operate, but also in assessing whether the legislative regime is needed.”
Originally, the government’s proposals for a HSA regime meant that where an independent provider ofCRS was subject to the regime, the HSA procedure would apply to the whole of the company, and not just to the CRS service which they deliver.
But there has been a strong consensus amongst many stakeholders that taking a whole company into special administration where only a small proportion of its overall business is NHS-funded CRS, would be disproportionate and could have a negative impact on the rights of creditors.
DH said that its consultation showed that there is a consensus in terms of safeguarding CRSservices so that patients have access to the services they need. However, there is not sufficient data that allows it to establish an accurate picture of what the CRS market looks like, “so we are unable to estimate how many current independent providers of CRS exist at present”.
However, the DH added: “We may review the implementation of a risk pool position alongside a HSA regime at a later date once we have developed a better understanding of the CRS market.”
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