Healthscope has signed an agreement with the country's second-largest health insurer Bupa in which it will forgo revenue if any of 14 defined, avoidable errors take place under its watch, such as a patient being given the wrong blood for a transfusion. Healthscope has also committed to publishing quality data for each of its hospitals.
Mr Cooke said Healthscope's improved quality means it can show health funds the hospital provider can save them money on a per patient basis, which improves its position as a provider of choice. ''That pay for performance now provides a business edge to what was the 'right thing to do','' he said.
Another consequence of the quality data is that Healthscope's own medical indemnity insurance has gone down by 25 per cent in the past three years.
Healthscope is Mr Cooke's fourth position working for private equity owners, which has led some industry sources to question his commitment to the company after the listing.
''I just can't see Rob hanging around, to be honest,'' one healthcare source said. ''I think the reality is he likes doing deals.''
However, Mr Cooke said he was driven to stick around after his attempt to float the private equity-owned Affinity Health in 2005 was thwarted by a $1.4 billion takeover by Ramsay Health Care. ''We were doing some really worldwide innovative stuff [at Affinity], so there was a great deal of regret,'' he said.
Retail shareholders accounted for about $750 million of the $2.25 billion raised. But there was no public offer, meaning mum-and-dad investors without an investment bank broker will only have their first opportunity to buy shares on Monday.
Healthscope is often compared with its larger rival Ramsay, which has 69 hospitals and has been one of the best-performing healthcare stocks,Oakley Outlet, gaining 27 per cent in value in the past year. However, Healthscope's facilities will require significant investment before they are up to Ramsay's level.
Mr Cooke said Ramsay's outperformance gave him confidence Healthscope could follow a similar path to growth. He pointed to facilities such as Melbourne Private and Knox Private as examples of ''tier-one hospitals'' that will benefit from planned investment and expansion.