Public hospital fees to go up until 2018
* Hospital fees were
already increased in 2012. Why has the Ministry of Health (MOH) decided
to increase the hospital fees again in 2014?
A road
map developed by the MoH on hospital fee increases was approved by the
Prime Minister and is in line with Decree 85/2012/ND-CP.
Earlier in 2005, Party Politburo Resolution No. 46 also stated clearly
that hospital fees must be calculated on the basis of full recovery
costs for direct services received by patients.
The
2012 fee adjustment only covered three out of the seven cost elements
incurred by patients. They include the cost of medicines, chemicals,
consumable materials, electricity and water, equipment maintenance and
others.
Principally speaking, the other four cost
elements were not included in the 2012 fee adjustment. They are covered
by the Government.
However, in practice, the State
budget allocated to hospitals is not sufficient. As a result, hospitals
have to look for different ways to cover various cost factors.
That's the reason why the MoH has drafted a road map to increase the
hospital fee during 2014-18 in line with Government Decree No. 85.
Under the road map, in 2014 the hospital fee charged to patients will
include the bed cost for in-patients and part of their surgery costs.
In 2015, the charge will further include the medical
equipment used for patient treatment; the hospital's management and
operation costs; and between 20-30 percent of the basic salary of
hospital staff at provincial hospitals in mountainous regions, in the
Central Highlands and district hospitals in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
From 2016-17, the basic salary cost for staff at
provincial and central hospitals, as well as district hospitals in the
two major cities of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, will be taken from the
hospital fee.
Meanwhile the basic salary cost of
staff at the remaining district hospitals nation-wide will be taken from
the hospital fee.
After 2018, the full cost recovery policy in the medical service will be applied widely across the board.
* What benefits will the patients enjoy after the policy is introduced in 2018?
I believe when the policy is applied the service quality will be
improved considerably, as from then on the operation of the hospitals
will depend on the patients.
More patients mean
more money for hospitals and their staff. And of course, there must be
some changes in the staff recruitment as by that time there will be no
more financial resources coming from the State budget.
By 2018, the recurrent State budget allocated to hospitals will be
switched to support people who have rendered services to the nation, the
poor, the ethnic minorities, children under 6 years old and others.
* Do you think by 2018 there will be no problem of overcrowded hospitals as at present?
There are various reasons leading to overcrowding. For example, the
demand for health care is increasing, transportation has improved, the
lack of confidence in the health service at lower levels, and others.
I'm totally confident that after 2018, the situation will be much better.
* Do you mean the quality of the service will be on a par with the hospital fee increase?
Sure! If we just look back at one year after the hospital fee increase
(2012-13), much improvement in the hospital service has been recorded.
A case in point is that all hospitals have
allocated 15 percent of the collected revenue to improve their services,
particularly the out patient departments.
In
addition, the MoH has issued several guiding documents and the standards
of operations (SOP) for the medical staff to apply.
In the meantime, the MoH will send frequent inspection missions to hospitals to ensure their high quality service.
In the long run, the MoH will switch to case management packages for patients.-VNA