Officially increase medical service prices from March 1, 2016

The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Finance have just agreed on the prices of medical examination and treatment services covered by health insurance (HI) among hospitals of the same rank nationwide. Accordingly, the adjustment of hospital fees in 2016 will be divided into 2 phases. From March 1, the price will include direct costs and special allowances (24/24 hour on-call allowance, surgery and procedure allowance). From July 1, the price will include salary.

According to the new regulations, the medical examination fee applied from March 1st will remain unchanged compared to the "ceiling" price frame of the Ministry of Health currently applied by hospitals. This adjustment of medical examination and treatment service prices includes costs including: medical examination and treatment service price, treatment bed day service price, technical service price. In which, the current medical examination and treatment service price includes 4 factors: direct costs (medicines, infusions, chemicals, consumables, replacement materials, electricity, water, fuel, waste treatment, environmental sanitation); costs of equipment maintenance, repair, purchase of replacement tools and instruments; costs of regular allowances, surgery and procedure allowances; costs of salaries according to industry, position, allowances, contributions according to the regime prescribed by the State for public service units. Specifically, the medical examination fee at a Grade I hospital is 20,000 VND/visit, at a Grade II hospital it is 15,000 VND, at a Grade III hospital it is 10,000 VND and at a Grade IV hospital it is 7,000 VND.

Expanded vaccination session at Cam Son Commune Health Station (Anh Son).

Next, from July 1, 2016, the price of medical services will include direct costs, special allowances and medical staff salaries. The specific implementation time of each unit and locality will be reviewed and decided by the Ministry of Health. The upcoming adjustment of hospital fees will increase the price of more than 1,800 medical services paid by health insurance, with an increase of 2 to 7 times. The price of a class 1 internal medicine bed, class I hospital is currently 80,000 VND/bed/day, the new price will be 215,000 VND/bed/day, class IV hospital increases from 55,000 VND/bed/day to 165,000 VND/bed/day. Intensive care beds in special hospitals will increase from 335,000 VND/bed/day to 677,000 VND/bed/day. The price for gastric lavage service increased from 30,000 VND/time to 106,000 VND/time. Peritoneal dialysis service for kidney failure patients increased from 300,000 VND/time to 379,000 VND/time.

The patient's life depends on the skills and medical ethics of medical staff (Illustration photo).

According to the Ministry of Health, this price adjustment is based on the principle of calculating the full direct costs and salaries of medical staff, so for technical services with high salary costs (such as bed fees; major surgeries classified as special, type one with 7-8 doctors participating in 3-4 hours...) there will be a high increase. Meanwhile, services using less human resources, salary costs in the service price are low such as imaging, diagnosis, and testing services, the increase will be lower. With the unified price of technical services, patients will be provided with fair and equal medical services at all medical examination and treatment facilities, regardless of region.

Price increase of more than 1,800 medical services.

Mr. Nguyen Nam Lien, Director of the Department of Financial Planning (Ministry of Health), said that the adjustment of hospital fees will initially apply to patients with health insurance cards. For those who have participated in health insurance, this adjustment of medical service prices seems to be unaffected. Specifically, poor households, children under 6 years old, people with revolutionary contributions... are 100% covered by the health insurance fund. For those whose health insurance covers 80-95%, they will also be more or less affected. However, the level of impact is insignificant.

With such price adjustment, there will be a significant impact on those who do not participate in health insurance. Statistics show that currently, nearly 25% of the population does not have health insurance. Therefore, with this price adjustment, the Ministry of Health also calls on people to participate in health insurance to ensure their rights when going to the doctor.

According to Inspector