Under the proposals, consultants would be allowed to bill patients for only a total of 20% of procedures.
The Government is proposing strict new measures to ensure the level of private practice carried out by medical consultants in the planned new co-located private hospitals is not exceeded.
Under the management proposals, outlined last week as part of the talks on a revised contract for consultants, senior doctors would be allowed to bill patients for only a total of 20 per cent of procedures carried out between the public hospital and the new co-located private facilities.
As part of the plan, the operators of the new co-located hospitals would also be obliged to provide details of all patients treated by consultants in their facilities to the Health Service Executive (HSE) for verification purposes.
It is unclear as yet what would happen to money due for procedures carried out over and above the 20 per cent cap.
It is understood that senior Department of Health personnel told the talks that the Government was determined that the current rules setting an average mix of 80 per cent public work/20 per cent private work would be adhered to in the future.
The Department of Health has been concerned for some time that the level of private practice in some public hospitals was far higher than the amount officially allowed. Late last year, for example, the HSE warned Tallaght hospital that the number of private patients being treated there was twice the official norm and said that it had to take steps as a priority to address this situation.
It said that the average number of private patients being treated at Tallaght was 40 per cent.
At the talks last week management proposed, as expected, that there should be two types of contract in the future. Under the first of these, the consultant would be paid a salary and have no private practice rights. The second form of contract would see the doctor receive less money but be allowed to see fee-paying patients in the public hospital or in a co-located facility.
Management did not provide a written document setting out detailed proposals for the new contract.
Full details of management proposals for the co-located private hospitals are expected to be set out in negotiations this week.
However, informed sources said that during last week's talks HSE management indicated that in some cases the co-located facilities would not be adjacent to public hospitals but would rather be physically attached to them.
Such a move would make it unlikely that the proposed co-located private hospitals could be transformed into hotels, apartments or anything else in the future.
This week, health service management is expected to set out its proposals in the controversial area of advocacy rights for consultants.
The current contractual right enjoyed by senior doctors to speak out on behalf of patients was dropped from a draft contract tabled by management at the failed talks prior to Christmas.
Management had proposed that consultants should be bound by a confidentiality clause which would prevent them from discussing "hospital business" without approval.
Consultant bodies have argued that this represented a "gagging clause" on doctors and have indicated that this issue could be a deal breaker in the current negotiations. It is understood that management intends to re-introduce an advocacy clause in its new draft contract, but that the stipulation on not speaking about hospital business could remain.
Meanwhile, sources said that a progress report on the talks to be provided by the independent chairman of the process, senior counsel Mark Connaughton, to the Cabinet today was expected to be generally positive.
The Cabinet has set a deadline for the end of next month for the completion of the talks on a new contract for hospital consultants.
