After 1 week of adjusting medical examination and treatment service prices: Many hospitals reduce prices and increase service quality.

No increase in medical examination and treatment prices

At Le Van Thinh Hospital (Thu Duc City), there are 700-800 patients seeking medical treatment every day, accounting for about 25% of the total outpatient visits at the hospital. The normal service examination fee is 150,000 VND, the highest is 200,000 VND/visit if examined by Associate Professors, Doctors, and experts from major hospitals and medical schools in the city.

Doctor Tran Van Khanh, Director of the Hospital, said that the price has not been adjusted up yet because it is necessary to invest in improving service quality first to increase reputation and convenience for patients. “After the Covid-19 pandemic, people still have many difficulties. On-demand examination is voluntary, but we prioritize quality, so we have not calculated a price increase. Maybe in 1-2 years we will adjust it up by 10%-15%,” Dr. Tran Van Khanh informed.

People waiting for medical examination and treatment at the Ho Chi Minh City Orthopedic Hospital. Photo taken on the morning of August 23, 2023. Photo: CAO THANG

Similarly, Dr. Tran Van Song, Deputy Director of People's Hospital 115, said that the unit is still applying the old price, has no policy to increase and will only increase the price of medical examination and treatment after investing in upgrading the appropriate infrastructure. In the context of many departments being overloaded, the hospital does not increase the number of service beds but still invests in upgrading to serve patients with conditions and ensure the costs for the hospital's operation and development.

At Saigon General Hospital, Dr. Mai Duc Huy, Deputy Director of the Hospital, said that the unit has 250 beds. Of which, about 10% of patients receive medical treatment upon request and about 12% of inpatient beds are service beds. The hospital has not yet adjusted the price of medical treatment services.

At Cho Ray Hospital - the final unit of the Ministry of Health in the southern provinces, there are currently about 150 service beds out of a total of more than 3,200 beds, a rate of nearly 5%. Doctor Pham Thanh Viet, Head of the General Planning Department, Cho Ray Hospital, said that the hospital does not have enough space and location to open many service rooms and up to now, the hospital has a policy of limiting service beds because of the large number of patients with difficulties from the provinces coming for medical examination and treatment.

Many service prices have been reduced sharply.

At Viet Duc Hospital, the number of patients using on-demand medical examination and treatment services every day accounts for 30%-40% of the total number of people receiving medical examination and treatment. To facilitate people in choosing services, the price list for on-demand medical examination and treatment services is publicly posted on the hospital's website. Most of the hospital's 1,478 on-demand medical examination and treatment services have prices equal to or lower than the maximum price set by the Ministry of Health .

According to Dr. Duong Duc Hung, Director of Viet Duc Hospital, the general price for medical examination and treatment upon request is 500,000 VND/visit, regardless of the level of doctor or specialist examination as before. However, many other services have been reduced sharply, such as the price for injection and intravenous infusion reduced from 100,000 VND to 46,000 VND; the price for ultrasound reduced from 300,000 VND to 196,000 VND, echocardiography from 500,000 VND to 380,000 VND...

In particular, many high-tech services on demand have also been adjusted to reduce prices quite deeply, such as: percutaneous disc herniation treatment under CT or MRI guidance from 13 million VND to nearly 2.4 million VND/session; abdominal CT scan reduced from 5.6 million VND to nearly 2.4 million VND/session; chronic anemia bypass surgery from 43 million VND to nearly 13 million VND; vena cava-pulmonary artery bypass surgery to treat congenital heart disease from 61 million VND to more than 37 million VND/session...

At the Central Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital, this unit is still applying the price of medical examination and treatment on request from 250,000-500,000 as before Circular 13. Mr. Pham Tuan Canh, Director of the Central Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital, said that every day the hospital examines about 800-900 patients, peaking at nearly 1,000 patients, about 1/3 of which are examined on request. Therefore, the hospital is continuing to study Circular 13 to implement it appropriately.

According to some experts, the price of many on-demand services at some medical facilities has decreased significantly compared to the ceiling price or lower than the ceiling price of Circular 13 because before, when building the price, the hospitals had taken into account all the components when performing the service and used the best materials. Along with that, due to the need of patients to choose specialists to perform the service, especially at the end-line hospitals and leading hospitals, each hospital has a different price frame for on-demand medical examination and treatment.

People register for medical examination and treatment services at Thong Nhat Hospital

Associate Professor, Dr. Luong Ngoc Khue, Director of the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment Management (Ministry of Health), said that in order to have a legal framework for medical examination and treatment activities on demand, to meet the medical examination and treatment needs of the people, the Ministry of Health has issued Circular 13 guiding medical examination and treatment activities on demand in the condition that medical service prices have not been calculated correctly and fully.

However, the Ministry of Health stated that medical facilities are only allowed to reserve no more than 20% of the total number of beds for on-demand medical treatment to avoid the abuse of transferring health insurance patients to on-demand areas. This also ensures the service of public hospitals and avoids overcharging patients.

K Hospital denies information that hospital fees are decided by some medical staff.

On August 23, in response to a number of video clips circulating on social media about patients having to pay hospital fees at Tan Trieu K Hospital (Hanoi) for medical treatment at the discretion of some medical staff, a representative of K Hospital had an interview with the press.

Mr. Nguyen Ba Tinh, in charge of the Social Work Department of K Hospital, said that the hospital has 3 facilities in Hanoi, implementing hospital fees in accordance with the regulations of the Ministry of Health. At the facilities of K Hospital, there is always a service price list printed right in the reception area of ​​the examination departments, in a convenient location to help patients easily choose medical examination and treatment services.

Therefore, the information that medical staff decide on service prices and collection levels is completely inaccurate. The representative of K Hospital added that after the video clip was posted on social networks, the hospital's leadership held a meeting with relevant units, requiring all medical staff to ensure proper implementation of the hospital's medical examination and treatment procedures.

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/sau-1-tuan-dieu-chinh-gia-kham-chua-benh-dich-vu-nhieu-benh-vien-giam-gia-tang-chat-luong-phuc-vu-post702814.html