Unifying medical examination service prices between hospitals of the same rank

The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Finance have issued a joint Circular regulating the unification of prices for medical examination and treatment services covered by health insurance among hospitals of the same rank nationwide.

People go through medical examination and treatment procedures. (Photo: VNA)

This joint circular regulates the prices of medical examination and treatment services covered by health insurance among hospitals of the same rank nationwide.

Accordingly, hospitals of the same rank nationwide will apply a common price for technical services; medical examination prices and bed days will still depend on the hospital rank.

For medical examination and treatment services not covered by the health insurance fund, the price framework and authority to prescribe specific prices shall comply with the provisions of the Law on Prices, the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment and related guiding documents.

According to the Circular, prices for medical examination and treatment services include: Prices for medical examination services; prices for treatment bed days; prices for technical services.

The Circular is divided into two implementation roadmaps: from March 1, the price will include direct costs and special allowances (24/24h on-call allowance, surgery and procedure allowance). From July 1, the price will include salary. The specific implementation time of units and localities will be considered and decided by the Ministry of Health.

The specific implementation time of units and localities shall be considered and decided by the Ministry of Health.

The Circular clearly states that medical examination and treatment facilities classified by competent authorities as self-insured regular expenditure units, self-insured regular expenditure units and investment expenditure units will be subject to prices including direct costs, special allowances and salaries from March 1, 2016.

Specifically, from March 1, 2016, the price of medical examination services is applied from 7,000 - 200,000 VND (not including salary). From July 1, 2016, the price of medical examination services is from 29,000 - 200,000 VND (including direct costs and salary). Of which, the highest is 200,000 VND applied to cases of inviting experts from other places to consult and determine difficult cases.

Daily bed service price applied from March 1, 2016 is from 31,000 VND - 354,000 VND (including direct costs and regular allowances); from July 1, 2016, service price is from 108,000 - 677,000 VND (including direct costs, regular allowances and salaries)...

The highest bed day price for intensive care unit (ICU)/organ transplant/bone marrow transplant/stem cell transplant will be adjusted to about 350,000 VND for special class, class 1 and 2; the next phase will fluctuate from 568,900 to 677,100.

The joint circular takes effect from March 1, 2016.

According to Mr. Nguyen Nam Lien - Director of the Financial Planning Department (Ministry of Health), this price adjustment is based on the principle of calculating all direct costs and salaries of medical staff, so for technical services with high salary costs (such as bed day fees; major surgeries classified as special, type one with 7-8 doctors participating in 3-4 hours...) there will be a high increase. As for services using less human resources, salary costs in service prices are low such as imaging, diagnosis, testing services, the increase will be lower.

With a unified price for technical services, patients will be provided with fair and equal medical services at all medical facilities, regardless of region./.

According to Vietnamplus