88 medical services must reduce prices because they are too expensive
In the near future, many types of medical services will have their prices adjusted, mainly in a downward direction. This move is to restore the real value when medical services are not really worth the set price.
Prices increase but service quality decreases
According to Mr. Le Van Phuc, Deputy Head of the Department of Health Insurance Policy Implementation, Vietnam Social Insurance, after a period of implementing medical service prices according to Circular 37, many shortcomings have been shown. The prices of many types of medical services are not commensurate with the quality of service, which is unreasonable.
This is quite evident in some medical services, typically the ENT endoscopy service. The price of an ENT endoscopy is based on the value of a very expensive machine, up to several hundred million VND, but in reality, medical facilities only use machines that cost less than 100 million VND, making the price unreasonably high. Or like the price of a hospital bed, there must be 1 - 1.3 medical staff to take care of it, the number of doctors and nurses must comply with the ratio of 1 doctor to 3 - 3.5 nurses.
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| The prices of many medical services are high but the quality is not commensurate. |
However, in reality, many medical facilities only have 0.7 staff, or even 0.4 - 0.5 medical staff per bed. In addition, some types of equipment included in the bed cost are no longer used or are not equipped as money: mosquito nets, water, dehumidifiers, etc.
In addition, in current standards, each hospital bed must ensure 5m2, but currently there are hospitals with beds that are too crowded, making it difficult to move around… When there are too many hospital beds and medical staff are not guaranteed, the quality of medical services can hardly be improved.
According to Mr. Nguyen Nam Lien, Director of the Department of Financial Planning, Ministry of Health, the price levels jointly established by the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Health and Vietnam Social Security in 2012 and 2015 are no longer suitable. In addition, since 2016, when the district-level connection regulation took effect, the number of people visiting district-level hospitals has increased, so it is necessary to adjust the price levels of some services. The Ministry of Health will consider which services are at risk of being abused and tighten the prices, such as X-rays, endoscopy, etc.
Many medical services will be discounted
At a recent meeting, after discussion, representatives of the Vietnam Social Security and the Ministry of Health agreed to adjust 88 prices. Of which, 6 medical examination prices are based on 5 hospital and commune health station levels, 42 bed-day prices are based on hospital and health station levels, 40 technical service prices are mainly diagnostic services such as: Ultrasound, X-ray, MRI, CT scan, PET-CT, ENT endoscopy, traditional medicine, rehabilitation, etc.
According to the draft, the medical examination fee will be 20,000 - 35,000 VND, ultrasound will be reduced by nearly 1.5 million VND. Specifically, the examination fee at special-class and class 1 hospitals is proposed to be reduced from 39,000 VND to 35,000 VND; the examination fee at commune health stations and class 4 hospitals will also be reduced from 29,000 VND to 20,000 VND...
Regarding hospital bed prices, it is expected to increase in special and class 1 hospitals and decrease slightly in class 3 and 4 hospitals. Specifically, the price of intensive care beds, organ transplants, stem cell transplants... at special hospitals will increase from 677,000 VND to 751,000 VND, and at class 1 hospitals will also increase to 710,000 VND. The price of a day of emergency resuscitation and anti-poisoning beds at class 4 hospitals will decrease from 226,000 VND to 215,000 VND.
Prices for X-ray, CT, and ultrasound services will also decrease. In particular, the interventional ultrasound service - catheter placement to drain abscesses will decrease sharply from more than 2 million VND to less than 600,000 VND. Tonsillectomy surgery with an electric knife will decrease from nearly 3.7 million VND to 1.6 million VND. Laparoscopic surgery to suture a perforated stomach will decrease from more than 4 million VND to nearly 2.9 million VND...
According to Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien, the annual adjustment of medical examination and treatment service prices is necessary to address practical shortcomings. The price adjustment of Circular 37 this time also aims to balance the fund and quality of medical examination and treatment. The price adjustment of services is expected to be implemented from July 2018.
After this adjustment of medical service prices, the Ministry of Health plans to reduce 18,000 services to 3,000 - 4,000 services to establish appropriate and unified prices nationwide.
