What the ACCC does
- We enforce the Competition and Consumer Act 2010.
- We provide general information about businesses’ obligations under competition law.
What the ACCC can't do
- We don’t provide legal advice or settle disputes.
A single legal entity includes a:
Medical professionals practising within a single legal entity, in any of these forms, are considered part of the same entity. This includes whether they are practising as:
For the purposes of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010, single legal entities are not in competition with each other. This means they are able to agree on the fees to be charged by that entity, without breaching the Act.
Fee setting in this situation is an internal management decision about prices. It's not considered illegal price fixing, as it is made by the individual entity.
Medical professionals practising through separate legal entities, or within a legal partnership with at least one corporate partner, are considered competitors under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010.
Joint fee setting in this situation is illegal price fixing. In some circumstances, the ACCC may authorise this arrangement for a specific period. We have also denied authorising these arrangements in other circumstances.
The ACCC has authorised GPs and dentists to set practice prices. However, we have denied authorisation in the case of proposed fee setting by ophthalmologists. For current authorisations, see the ACCC’s authorisations register.
The ACCC considers that common fee setting by professionals in shared practices is likely to result in significant detriment, except where there are a number of competitors in the area that provide a real competitive constraint to the shared practice.
We consider that the main potential benefits from common fee setting by professionals within a shared practice arise from the cost savings, efficiencies and greater teamwork and collaboration from operating as a shared practice. As a result, common fee setting typically only delivers significant benefits where it results in more shared practices than would otherwise be the case.
Medical professionals practising through separate entities who collectively agree not to bulk bill all patients or certain patients are likely to be in breach of price fixing rules in the Act.
This kind of agreement between separate entities has the purpose of setting prices above a certain level and is likely to breach the Act.
Agreements between medical professionals practising through separate entities to bulk bill all patients may be considered price fixing.
Even though it is an agreement to charge the lowest likely price, it is still an agreement between competitors on the fee to be charged. Therefore, it's technically a breach of the Act.
We have discretion over when we'll take matters to court. In making these decisions, we consider a range of relevant factors, including:
We consider that an agreement between medical professionals to bulk bill all patients would be unlikely to result in any harm to patients. This is because the bulk billed rate is the lowest fee likely to be charged for these services.
However, other people still have a right of private action under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. To ensure there is no risk of breaching the price fixing law, even regarding collective agreements to bulk bill, each separate entity should independently decide on what fees to charge its patients.
Medical professionals who exchange fee information to help obtain informed financial consent from patients aren't breaching the Act, so long as they don't agree on the fees that will be charged to patients.
We wouldn't typically consider the following situations or actions by medical professionals to be likely to breach the Act:
We consider that the following actions risk breaching the Act.
If a decision is made between medical professionals practising through separate entities to: