Geoff Bloom
Geoff practices in regulatory and commercial law for the health, aged care and life sciences industries. He also specialises in privacy and freedom of information law.
Geoff’s health, aged care and life sciences clients include public and private hospitals and health care providers, government agencies, universities, medical research organisations, therapeutic goods manufacturers and distributors, and biotechnology companies. Clients value Geoff’s depth of understanding of the health, aged care and life sciences industries, and his capacity to find legal solutions that optimise business and clinical results.
Geoff provides privacy and freedom of information law advice to the private, not for profit and government sectors, and covers all issues, including compliance, credit privacy, privacy impact assessments and privacy breach response and remediation. As well as working in private practice, Geoff has been Principal Legal Officer at NSW Health and the Cabinet Office of the NSW Government, and has taught Health Law at UNSW.
Geoff has been named in Best Lawyers™ Australia for Health & Aged Care Law, Life Sciences Practice and Privacy and Data Security Law.
Experience
Geoff’s recent experience includes:
- Virtus Health and other ART providers: Advice on all aspects of the assisted reproductive technology, including regulatory issues across Australia, interaction with foreign ART laws for Australian patients, and drafting agreements with overseas gamete donor banks;
- Medicare: Advised Department of Human Service / Medicare on its eHealth Record PKI project to establish the DHS’ Public Key Infrastructure access to the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (eHealth Record) system, including conducting a privacy impact assessment, and advising on Gatekeeper PKI requirements, certificate policies, privacy policy, PKI forms, software licensing, third party contracts and agency MoUs;
- Aged Care Provider (identity confidential): Successful representation on behalf of a provider to the Commonwealth Government, to overturn its earlier refusal of the provider’s application for the Higher Accommodation Supplement. The supplement was worth more than $300,000 a year to the provider, or $3 million over 10 years;
- Edwards Lifesciences: Assistance with preparation of dossier and associated regulatory issues in successful application for inclusion into the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods for a Transcatheter Heart Valve (THV) System;
- Silverchain, MercyCare WA, ECH and others: Development of client agreements, preparation of compliance frameworks, and assistance in negotiation with government; and
- Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council: Consultant engaged by the Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council on national consultation projects on advance care directives and draft adult-to-adult living donor liver transplantation policy.