Turnbull flags new hospital funding plan

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has confirmed he's working to change unpopular cuts to hospital funding made by his predecessor Tony Abbott.

Mr Turnbull says the proposal to maintain activity-based funding and a national efficient price will be put to state premiers and territory chief ministers when they meet in Canberra this week.

He wouldn't confirm any dollar figure, but reports suggest it'll cost $5 billion.

Mr Abbott's horror 2014/15 budget put an end to that model for hospital funding from July 2017, with funding to instead be based on the inflation rate and population growth - an arrangement states and health professionals argue is unsustainable.

Some states are reportedly confident they will be offered a four-year hospital funding agreement to 2020 based on the original formula agreed under the former Labor government in 2011.

"(We'll) ensure that Australians get the best care in hospitals and that hospitals are delivering that care to Australian patients as efficiently and effectively as we can," Mr Turnbull told reporters in Sydney on Tuesday.

Opposition health spokeswoman Catherine King said $5 billion fell well short of what Labor agreed to fund when it was in government.

"This is about one thing and one thing alone - to get Malcolm Turnbull through the next election" she told reporters in Brisbane.

"It's not about patients."

South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill says he's received a preliminary call from Mr Turnbull and understands there may be an interim offer.

But it's a $5 billion bandaid for a $57 billion problem.

"Any contribution would be welcome because the size of the problem is enormous," Mr Weatherill said.

"It's likely to be a bandaid on a much bigger wound."

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk hadn't received any information about the changes.

"It is simply not good enough for the Turnbull-led government to not give information out to the premiers ahead of the (COAG) meeting - it is irresponsible," she said.

Former treasurer Joe Hockey's first budget, delivered in May 2014 when Mr Abbott was prime minister, included $57 billion in cuts to hospitals over the next decade.

Mr Weatherill has released figures showing tens of thousands of patients will be left untreated if the hospital funding black hole isn't filled.

He says the Ernst & Young report found, by 2024/25, more than 107,000 patients each year will be left untreated in the public system as a result of the $4 billion cut to the state's hospitals.

"It was a substantial reason for Mr Abbott's demise and it remains the unfinished business of Mr Turnbull's leadership," he said.

Mr Weatherill is still pushing for the GST to be part of tax reform talks.