Improve the quality of medical examination and treatment, ensure the rights of health insurance participants

Mr. Ho Phuc Hop - Member of the Standing Committee, Head of the Provincial Party Committee's Propaganda Department, Head of the Provincial People's Council's Culture and Social Affairs Department chaired the meeting. Photo: Mai Hoa

According to a report from Nghe An General Hospital, the unit was initially assigned 4,500 health insurance cards and received patients transferred from lower levels.

In recent years, medical examination and treatment for patients participating in health insurance have been guaranteed, with the number of patients with health insurance coming for inpatient/outpatient examination and treatment increasing year by year, such as: in 2015 there were 93,442 visits, in 2017 there were 182,195 visits, and in the first 3 months of 2018 alone there were 47,586 visits.

Accordingly, the total cost of health insurance examination and treatment increased from nearly 359 billion VND (in 2015) to more than 598 billion VND in 2017 and in the first 3 months of 2018 was more than 150 billion VND.

However, according to Mr. Nguyen Van Huong - Hospital Director, the implementation of the health insurance examination and treatment regime poses a number of difficulties and problems such as:The subjects registering for initial medical examination and treatment at the hospital are mainly the elderly, policy beneficiaries, those with serious illnesses, many chronic illnesses, and high frequency of medical examination and treatment; in particular, some subjects registering for initial medical examination and treatment go to the hospital 15-22 times/month. This is the main reason for exceeding the annual medical examination and treatment fund at the hospital.

Mr. Bui Dinh Long - Secretary of Nam Dan District Party Committee, member of the monitoring delegation spoke at the meeting. Photo: Mai Hoa

At the meeting, based on the hospital's report, members of the monitoring delegation raised many issues such as debt for health insurance treatment costs; roadmap for connecting provincial hospitals in 2021; solutions to prevent health insurance fund bankruptcy, etc.

Concluding the meeting, Head of the Provincial People's Council's Culture and Social Affairs Committee Ho Phuc Hop acknowledged the hospital's efforts in ensuring the rights of patients participating in health insurance when coming for examination and treatment.

Mr. Nguyen Van Huong - Director of the Provincial General Friendship Hospital, said that the determination of cost ceilings, appraisal and settlement of payment for costs exceeding the ceiling and exceeding the annual fund are slow, affecting the hospital's operations. Photo: Mai Hoa

Head of the Department Ho Phuc Hop also emphasized that although the hospital has become autonomous, it is still a public hospital, so it is necessary to focus on improving the quality of medical examination and treatment, improving the quality of service, and ensuring full rights for patients participating in health insurance to ensure social security.

Head of the Culture - Social Committee of the Provincial People's Council Ho Phuc Hop concluded at the meeting. Photo: Mai Hoa

Hospitals also need to pay attention to solutions to increase savings on regular expenses and save on medical supplies.

The head of the Provincial People's Council's Culture and Social Affairs Committee also noted the difficulties in implementing health insurance policies to synthesize and report to the Provincial People's Council, Provincial People's Committee and central ministries and branches for attention and resolution...