​Medibank's data migration to delay tax statement release

Australian health insurance company Medibank has announced it is experiencing "reporting issues", and is therefore unlikely to be able to provide annual tax statements to a majority of customers by July 15.

In a statement, Medibank CEO Craig Drummond has apologized, blaming the situation on customer data migration, which is part of the organization's major technology upgrade.

"I sincerely apologize to our customers for this disruption. It is important for customers to know their personal data has not been compromised," he said.

Drummond said Medibank will keep its members updated over the coming days, assuring the company is working on amending the issue and that health insurance customers will not be affected.

"Our team is working around the clock to resolve this issue, and I want to assure customers that our focus is on minimizing the impact this will have on them," he said.

At the end of last year, Medibank signed a multimillion-dollar, three-year contract with Telstra, which would see the telco provide the company with voice, data, WAN, LAN, and managed services.

According to Telstra, the contract is expected to deliver efficiency, greater network security, and savings to Medibank. Specifically, Telstra believes Medicare will save around 37 percent of its current telco-related expenditure by unifying its services under one provider, rather than the eight providers it used prior to this.

The partnership followed Telstra Health acquiring Medibank-developed telehealth service Anywhere Healthcare.

Anywhere Healthcare, established by Medibank in 2013, provides access to more than 1,600 general practitioners and 26 specialists to those located in regional and remote areas.