More opportunities for people with serious illnesses

Eliminating referral procedures for some rare and serious diseases is an urgent "medicine" to help patients reduce their suffering and increase their motivation to fight the disease.

My mother has been suffering from a serious illness for the past 7 years. The family lives in a remote province, while her illness requires treatment at a higher level, over the past years, in addition to worrying about money to take care of the patient, the hospital transfer procedure is a barrier that makes my family feel tired.

The regulation to eliminate referral procedures for some rare diseases, serious diseases... is supported by many people and is expected to be issued and implemented soon.

My mother had to be treated at the upper level, the Ho Chi Minh City Hematology and Blood Transfusion Hospital. Every time there was an appointment letter from the hospital, it was on time, my family had to take my mother from Quang Ngai there to do the admission procedures. If she missed the appointment, she had to re-do the transfer paper.

And the delay happened often because my mother was not always healthy and strong enough for the 1,000km journey. Sometimes, when her health was favorable, she arrived at the hospital on time, but there were times when, close to the follow-up appointment, her health declined, she had a fever, and could not go.

So the follow-up appointment is late. If the family wants to continue the treatment regimen, they must transfer the patient to another hospital or line.

It sounds simple, but the procedure must go through at least 2 levels and behind that is a journey that is not very convenient for the family and the patient. Because the basic principle to make a transfer paper from the medical examination and treatment facility declared in the health insurance card (district level) to the provincial level requires the patient to go with.

Once you have a serious illness, it is very inconvenient and dangerous to move around. Even if the hospital "creates conditions", you still have to follow the procedure of getting a number, doing admission procedures, going to each department and room for... examination.

But in fact, the doctor only needs to certify that the patient is "real" and sign a confirmation to ensure that the transfer file is sent to the provincial hospital to receive health insurance. Fast is 2 hours, slow is a whole day.

Next at the provincial hospital, the journey is similar.

Not only does it take time and effort for patients, but the process of making transfer papers and transferring to other hospitals is always crowded with patients, noisy and the environment is not really safe for people with serious illnesses. The fear of catching other diseases and many problems arising in the hospital space makes patients afraid.

We know that many district and provincial hospitals do not have the expertise to treat serious illnesses. However, the current Health Insurance Law stipulates the process for patients, so there is no other way to transfer to a higher level of treatment.

This not only makes patients tired, increases cumbersome administrative procedures, but also wastes human resources when medical staff and doctors could have spent the time supporting referral procedures to examine and treat other patients.

Doctor Huynh Thi Thuan, Deputy Director of Quang Ngai General Hospital, said that the draft Law on Health Insurance allows the removal of referral procedures for some rare diseases, serious diseases... which is very necessary. This helps patients save time, avoid hassles and related administrative procedures. From there, patients can access the fastest medical examination and treatment services to treat their diseases.

Doctor Thuan also suggested that there should be specific instructions for patients to avoid overloading hospitals.

I think, once the shortcomings have been identified, they need to be changed soon.

The life expectancy of people with terminal illnesses is not long. The fight against illness and survival is a difficult journey. Therefore, eliminating one procedure also means giving them motivation and increasing their chances of survival.

On the morning of October 24, Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan, authorized by the Prime Minister, presented to the National Assembly a draft law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Health Insurance.

This draft law focuses on amending and supplementing regulations that need to be unified and synchronized with related laws, overcoming urgent shortcomings of current laws, having full information and data, and reaching consensus.

Including regulations on transferring from 4 levels of medical examination and treatment to 3 levels of technical expertise to take effect from January 1, 2025 in accordance with the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment.

Specifically, the draft law amending regulations on medical examination and treatment at the right and wrong medical facilities (inter-hospital) is updated according to the technical expertise level of the 2023 Law on Medical Examination and Treatment.

Eliminate referral procedures for some rare and serious diseases... to be transferred directly to higher levels of expertise to reduce procedures, create convenience, reduce out-of-pocket expenses for people, and save costs for the fund.

Accordingly, the bill stipulates that patients are allowed to go to medical examination and treatment facilities at the basic or advanced technical level in case of diagnosis and treatment of certain rare diseases, serious diseases, diseases requiring surgery or using advanced techniques according to the list of diseases and techniques prescribed by the Minister of Health: 100% payment of medical examination and treatment costs for inpatient and outpatient health insurance according to the prescribed percentage of benefits.

Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/them-co-hoi-cho-nguoi-mac-benh-hiem-ngheo-192241024150208024.htm