The Turnbull government is considering a proposal to sell Australian Hearing to a deaf children's charity, an international hearing aid manufacturer and a university.
The Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children are leading a consortium aiming to buy the government's hearing services provider. Australian Hearing diagnoses and provides hearing aids to children, older and indigenous Australians and veterans. 
Chris Rehn, the Institute's chief executive officer, said that if successful, they planned to extend Australian Hearing's services to include cochlear implants for the severely deaf, therapy, education, and rehabilitation services.
"We have an opportunity to continue to improve services and minimise the significant health and social impacts for all Australians with hearing loss, by working together with, and building upon, the significant achievements of Australian Hearing," he said.
This follows revelations the health department is preparing a plan that could outsource Medicare's payment system, aimed at modernising it for the digital age.
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said on Friday the government would formally examine the proposal, co-authored by Cochlear Limited and Macquarie University, which hosts research on hearing and language disorders.
"This will include further work with the consortium on the possible terms and conditions for any ownership transfer should the government decide to proceed with that approach," he said.
It is unknown when the government will make its decision.
Mr Cormann stressed that the government had not yet decided whether to privatise Australian Hearing.
He commissioned a study on its future in 2014 following a recommendation from the Commission of Audit and has discussed options with hearing impaired stakeholders.
Mr Rehn said that the consortium then began discussing a potential offer. Australian Hearing will increasingly compete with private hearing service providers as part of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, diminishing its monopoly on a range of services.
He said the group wanted to protect Australian Hearing from being sold directly to a private equity firm or hearing aid manufacturer.
"This is too important to see it become a commercial transaction. We want to see (patients' needs) met in a way that's not about profit orientation, it's about better serving the needs of Australians with hearing loss," Mr Rehn said.
While Australian sales made up about 3 per cent of Cochlear's global sales, he said the company was primarily concerned with preserving Australian services for the hearing impaired, and exporting its understanding of hearing loss around the world.
The value of Australian Hearing and how many staff might remain with the group if it was sold would form part of the group's discussions with government.
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