Panel studying hospital pricing readies a few solutions

After a meeting with related agencies at the Public Health Ministry yesterday, Dr Supachai Kunaratanapruk, who is a member of the Medical Council of Thailand and chairman of the committee, said they had agreed on a four-point conclusion. 

He said that after holding another discussion next week, the committee will offer this proposal to the larger panel led by the public health minister and commerce minister to consider later, he added. 

Firstly, the solution proposal will have two options. One would be to maintain medicine prices as per market mechanisms and have doctors write prescriptions for patients to purchase the medicines at pharmacies, whose quality should also be improved to meet the standard. The other would be to get private hospitals separate the price of medicines from other fees and put price tags that reflect the factory rate. 

Secondly, the Pharmacy Council, the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Internal Trade, academics and people sector would be asked to negotiate the options with private hospitals over a week or two. 

Thirdly, the issue of private hospitals charging emergency patients would be handled by the National Institute of Emergency Medicine (NIEM). The institute would set a definition of “emergency cases” and notify the public about it, and that all hospitals would be required to treat emergency patients for the critical 72 hours, he explained. 

After the initial 72 hours, NIEM will contact the respective patients’ healthcare scheme to refer them to proper facilities. If the patient referral system cannot be passed on to the patients, then NIEM will be responsible for the expenses, he said, adding that if the patients refused to move, then they would have to cover the bills themselves. 

The institute will also negotiate the medical treatment rate with private hospitals and set a standard treatment time, he said. This negotiation should be completed in a week or two. NIEM will also set a joint committee with three healthcare schemes to handle issues stemming from this matter, he added. 

Fourthly, medical treatments for 77 non-emergency illnesses would be publicised in the Department of Health Service Support’s website with links to private hospitals, so people can look up and decide before seeking treatment. This part should be completed in a month, he said.