The Commerce Commission has advised Tauranga midwives that, in the Commission's opinion, their attempted collective agreement to pay general practitioners specified rates is a form of price fixing and risks breaching the Commerce Act.
Commission Chairman Dr Alan Bollard said that the Act prohibits people getting together to agree on the prices they will charge.
Tauranga midwives had agreed that, when a midwife was responsible for a woman's maternity care and the women visited a general practitioner, then standard fees set collectively by the midwives would be paid to the general practitioner.
Dr Bollard said the Commission has advised the midwives that, under the Act, it is up to the midwife and general practitioner involved to agree on the fees. For groups of either midwives or general practitioners to get together and agree on standard prices is, in the Commission's view, price fixing.
He advised anyone who thinks they might have inadvertently breached the Act to contact the Commission.
"We are happy to explain what the law says and how the Commission interprets and applies it," Dr Bollard said. "It is then up to the people involved to organise their businesses as they see fit so that they do not breach the Act. We do not tell people how to run their businesses."
Under current maternity services arrangements, a pregnant woman chooses who will be her lead maternity carer, and the lead maternity carer receives the government maternity subsidy. If other health professionals are involved, then the lead maternity carer pays them from the government subsidy.
The issue in Tauranga centres on how the lead maternity carer and any other health professionals involved should decide the level of payments.
The Commerce Act prohibits collusion among groups to fix prices. The fees paid should be decided by the people involved, based on whatever factors they consider to be appropriate to the circumstances of the women they are caring for. Groups of midwives, general practitioners or other health professionals risk breaching the Act if they collectively try to impose standard fees.
