Nghe An: Improving the quality of medical examination and treatment under health insurance, ensuring the rights of participants

The quality of medical examination and treatment under health insurance continues to be improved.

With the attention and direction of the Department of Health and the coordination from the agencySocial insurance, medical facilities in the province are increasingly interested in investing in facilities, equipment, improving the quality of human resources... Thanks to that, the quality of medical examination and treatment in general and medical examination and treatment in particular,health insuranceincreasingly improved; many high-tech services have been developed at provincial and district hospitals. Thereby, many patients with serious illnesses have been saved; the rate of patients being transferred to higher levels has decreased, reducing pressure on upper-level hospitals and direct costs for patients' families.

At Nghe An Provincial General Hospital, in the first 6 months of 2022, the hospital has implemented and developed many high-tech, specialized services of the Central level such as: Successfully performing the 4th kidney transplant in Vietnam, saving the lives of 4 very severe "post-Covid-19" patients using extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) - Artificial heart-lung, perfecting coronary artery disease treatment methods,... Thereby, bringing better medical examination and treatment opportunities for people participating in health insurance in Nghe An and neighboring provinces.

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Van Huong - Director of Nghe An General Hospital shared: "The hospital always focuses on developing expertise and techniques, especially specialized and cutting-edge techniques. This is extremely meaningful for patients who receive health insurance examination and treatment in the area, helping them avoid having to transfer to a higher level, reducing the cost of medical examination and treatment."

Not only provincial hospitals, district hospitals have also been promoting the improvement of the quality of medical examination and treatment. Doctor Nguyen Hong Truong - Director of Vinh City General Hospital said: "In the first 6 months of the year, the hospital continued to make great strides in professional development, many specialized techniques at the provincial and central levels were regularly and effectively implemented. In addition, the hospital also implemented many new specialized techniques in clinical and paraclinical fields".

New techniques deployed by Vinh City General Hospital include: Laparoscopic surgery to remove the entire prostate in the treatment of prostate cancer; pancreaticoduodenectomy; endoscopic surgery through the mouth of the thyroid gland; left hepatectomy to treat liver tumors and liver trauma; abdominal aortic aneurysm surgery... The development of new techniques has helped the hospital improve the quality of diagnosis and treatment, limiting the need to transfer patients to higher levels.

Similarly, Anh Son District Medical Center has also developed and implemented a number of advanced techniques of the provincial and central levels such as: Endoscopic surgery for goiter via the armpit and mouth; Percutaneous nephrolithotomy using a small tunnel; Endoscopic surgery to remove enlarged prostate; Endoscopic hysterectomy; Endoscopic surgery for common bile duct stones, Phaco surgery, combined with difficult bone fusion in the maxillofacial area, tonsillectomy with Plasma...

It can be said that with the development of high technology, the quality of medical examination and treatment at medical facilities in Nghe An has been constantly improved; creating trust for patients. Thereby, protecting the rights of people to go for medical examination and treatment under health insurance. Information from the joint sector of Social Insurance - Nghe An Department of Health: In 2021, the whole province paid for 4.1 million people to go for medical examination and treatment under health insurance with a spending of over 3,400 billion VND. As of May 31, the number of medical examinations and treatments under health insurance was nearly 1.75 million, with a spending of over 1,660 billion VND.

Ensuring benefits and convenience for health insurance participants

With the motto "Absolutely ensuring that patients do not have to pay for medical examination and treatment costs within the scope of benefits and levels of health insurance benefits according to regulations", in recent times, the Provincial Social Insurance has closely coordinated with the Department of Health and health insurance examination and treatment facilities, implementing flexible and appropriate health insurance policies to help patients and medical facilities reduce time and effort in performing administrative procedures for health insurance examination and treatment, ensuring full and timely medical examination and treatment benefits for health insurance participants. Medical examination and treatment facilities have basically implemented well the policies and laws on health insurance, ensuring the rights of people with health insurance cards when going for examination and treatment.

In addition, the provincial Social Insurance has also made advances in medical examination and treatment costs for health insurance medical examination and treatment facilities in accordance with regulations, ensuring funding for medical examination and treatment for health insurance participants. Dr. Nguyen Huu Le - Deputy Director of Nghe An Department of Health said: In the province, there is no shortage of funds to buy medicine, chemicals, and medical supplies at health insurance medical examination and treatment facilities.

With the coordination between the Health sector and the provincial Social Insurance, the application of information technology to improve the quality of medical services has been thoroughly implemented. Many medical examination and treatment units have applied information technology to online medical examination registration; deployed the issuance and use of smart medical examination cards to help people register for remote medical examination numbers, reducing waiting time for patients; the customer care department of the unit has provided consultation and guidance via phone; website; on the other hand, some medical examination and treatment units have deployed smart medical system software and electronic medical records to improve management efficiency, ensure accuracy, timeliness, and science to improve the quality of their units, and reform administrative procedures.

Mr. Thai Ba Thang - Deputy Director of Nghe An Social Insurance said: In particular, from June 1, 2021, the Provincial Social Insurance has coordinated with health insurance examination and treatment facilities to put into use the image of the health insurance card on the VssID application (Digital Social Insurance) on the mobile platform to replace the paper health insurance card when going for medical examination and treatment. From March 1, 2022, people can use the citizen identification card with electronic chip or the VN-eID application to go for medical examination and treatment under health insurance instead of having to bring the health insurance card as well as personal documents as before, helping patients and medical facilities reduce time and effort in carrying out administrative procedures for medical examination and treatment under health insurance.

In the coming time, the Social Insurance and Health sectors of the province will continue to take proactive, flexible, practical and timely solutions to ensure the rights of people participating in medical examination and treatment. That is, directing medical examination and treatment units to pay attention to developing high-tech expertise and new techniques; building and supplementing treatment regimens, procedures and technical regulations; gradually building infrastructure and facilities; effectively using medical equipment; effectively managing hospital quality; coordinating with Social Insurance to implement policies and laws on health insurance and resolving problems in medical examination and treatment and health insurance payment; effectively implementing and saving the budget allocated for 2022; ensuring adequate and timely supply of medicines, chemicals and medical supplies to promptly serve medical examination and treatment.

On the side of the provincial Social Insurance agency, we will continue to proactively follow the practical situation, promptly propose appropriate solutions to ensure the maximum benefits of health insurance participants. Strengthen propaganda and mobilize people to participate in health insurance to share the burden when going to medical examination and treatment, continue to promote administrative reform in the field of health insurance, simplify administrative procedures, to facilitate people in enjoying health insurance benefits - Mr. Thai Ba Thang clearly stated.