Don't let the situation happen where you eat porridge honestly and eat rice carelessly!

Inadequacies in calculating medical examination and treatment prices according to needs

According to the reporter of the Journalist & Public Opinion Newspaper, a current point of disagreement regarding the collection of medical examination and treatment service fees at public hospitals is the situation where each place collects a different price.

Even though they are all tertiary hospitals, the service prices at different hospitals are different. Some hospitals base their medical examination and treatment service prices on the calculation of health insurance, while others set their own prices.

The difference in medical examination and treatment service fees leads to the fact that hospitals with high fees have a comfortable life for medical staff, while those with low fees are in a situation where their income is not enough to cover expenses. This is an inadequacy that many people liken to the situation of “honestly eating porridge, dishonestly eating rice” – in the implementation of medical examination and treatment services today.

Medical service prices need to be reasonably regulated to ensure fairness between patients and medical facilities.

A director of a public hospital shared with the Journalist & Public Opinion Newspaper that the above differences are leading to inequality between hospitals. Some hospitals charge high fees, their revenue increases, and the lives of doctors at those hospitals are very good. But some hospitals charge the same price as health insurance, so their fees are not enough to cover expenses. For patients, even though they are examined directly by doctors, some places pay high fees, while others pay low fees. The differences in fees between public medical facilities directly affect people's wallets when using medical examination and treatment services.

Mr. Nguyen Long Binh in Thanh Xuan, Hanoi, said that charging different prices for medical examination and treatment services in different places is not appropriate. Because, if it is a public hospital, of the same rank, there should be a common price to ensure fairness between hospitals and the people's right to medical examination and treatment. Sharing the same opinion, Ms. Le Quynh Anh in Nam Tu Liem, Hanoi said: The price of medical examination and treatment services needs to be based on unified regulations, avoiding each hospital charging different prices, leading to hospitals that are for the people but charge low prices being blamed for not knowing how to do business, not taking care of the lives of doctors and nurses. Meanwhile, hospitals that charge high, have surplus money while patients "work hard" to pay the fees.

Regarding the issue of medical service prices, the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment No. 15/2023/QH15 passed by the National Assembly on January 9, 2023, replacing the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment No. 40/2009, effective from January 1, 2024, further empowers hospitals.

According to Deputy Minister of Health Tran Van Thuan, one of the new points, Law No. 15 has stipulated a number of contents on the autonomy mechanism of public medical examination and treatment facilities, and specific regulations on medical examination and treatment prices. In particular, state medical examination and treatment facilities are allowed to decide on the price of medical examination and treatment services upon request and must declare and publicly post the price of medical examination and treatment services upon request.

Many experts believe that the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment (amended) was issued to specify the guidelines and policies of the Party and State, overcome limitations and shortcomings, resolve newly arising issues to develop and improve the quality of medical services for people in the direction of fairness, quality, efficiency, development and international integration; enhance the effectiveness, efficiency, order, discipline and discipline of state management of medical examination and treatment activities.

The provisions of the Law all put patients at the center of all activities of providing medical examination and treatment services on the basis of improving the quality and accessibility of high-quality medical examination and treatment services, in accordance with international practices. Continue to implement the policy of socialization and diversification of medical services with the active participation of professional associations, practitioners and patients; ensure fairness between state and private medical examination and treatment facilities.

Release but still tighten

Regarding the method of calculating medical service prices, Mr. Nguyen Tuong Son - Director of the Department of Planning and Finance of the Ministry of Health said that medical examination and treatment on demand has been in operation for a long time, and is also a policy to promote socialization in medical examination and treatment at medical facilities. Law No. 15, effective January 1, 2024, also determines to promote socialization of these activities and assigns the Ministry of Health to develop pricing methods for facilities to decide for themselves.

“It is true that many medical facilities determine different prices for medical examinations upon request. To fundamentally solve this problem, the Ministry of Health has also issued instructions and developed a Circular regulating the prices for medical examinations upon request at public hospitals. In 2019, the Ministry of Health also issued a Circular, but due to the difficult context of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was temporarily suspended and not implemented,” said Mr. Nguyen Tuong Son.

Mr. Nguyen Tuong Son also said that the Ministry of Health is currently developing a Circular on medical examination and treatment upon request at public medical facilities. This is a very important circular that is expected to be issued soon. “In the content of the circular, the Ministry of Health's viewpoint affirms that medical examination and treatment provided by public facilities must comply with the regulations on technical and economic norms issued by the Ministry of Health for all patients coming for medical examination and treatment with health insurance, medical examination and treatment without health insurance, or medical examination and treatment upon demand. Only additional services have a different calculation method,” Mr. Nguyen Tuong Son stated.

Patients and medical facilities will be guaranteed fairness through a strict legal framework.

Also related to this issue, Mr. Ha Anh Duc - Chief of Office of the Ministry of Health shared that he attended a meeting related to the revised Law on Medical Examination and Treatment. In which, the price of medical examination and treatment upon request was stated that there is no need to control the ceiling, in the sense that whoever has more money will pay. However, that is not the reason why the Ministry of Health lets it go and does not manage. " Even if the hospital sets its own price, the management agency must also manage why this department charges 5 million, that department charges 10 million, not just collect whatever it wants " - Mr. Ha Anh Duc shared.

Through the discussion, it can be seen that in the future, the prices of medical examination and treatment services will be managed in a more comprehensive and detailed manner. There will be no situation of hospitals freely setting their own prices for medical examination and treatment services. Patients and medical examination and treatment facilities will be guaranteed fairness through a strict legal corridor.

Trinh Phuc

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/dung-de-xay-ra-tinh-trang-that-tha-an-chao-lao-nhao-an-com-post249046.html