Our legislative function

Health Services Act

HealthShare Victoria (HSV), previously known as Health Purchasing Victoria (HPV), was established under the Health Services Act 1988 (Vic) to strengthen the collective purchasing power of Victoria’s public health services and hospitals.

• HPV was created in 2001 as an independent statutory authority with responsibility for improving how public health services purchase goods and services.
• Under the Act, it was given the authority to develop and manage purchasing policies that guide how health services buy, manage and dispose of goods, while maintaining high standards of probity.
• In January 2021, HPV became HealthShare Victoria (HSV), expanding its role to include logistics services.

HSV's role

• Develop and review purchasing policies to help health services achieve strong value for money.
• Monitor how health services follow HSV purchasing policies and directions, and reports any issues to the Minister for Health.
• Support fair, transparent and accountable purchasing, tendering and contracting processes.
• Provide advice, training and support to help health services manage the supply, use and disposal of goods effectively.

Mandated health service obligations under the Act

• Health services listed in Schedules 1 and 5 of the Health Services Act 1988 (Vic) are known as mandated health services.
• These services must follow all purchasing policies set by HealthShare Victoria (HSV).

Modern Slavery Act

Under the Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth) some public health services must submit a yearly modern slavery statement to the Australian Government if their annual revenue is $100 million or more.

HSV's role

• Run programs to help identify and reduce modern slavery risks in healthcare supply chains
• Provide guidance on how to reduce these risks.
• Help mandated health services prepare their annual modern slavery statements.
• Assess and managing modern slavery risks in goods and services covered by HSV collective agreements.

Content reviewed: May 2026