State-run hospitals in Thailand are starting
to refuse transfers of acute patients from private hospitals due to the Social
Security Office (SSO)'s new financial management system.
"All
beds in medical schools and state hospitals are no longer available for SS
[social security] members who are referred from a private hospital," Dr
Suradej Waleeittikul, deputy secretary-general of the SSO, said yesterday.
The
financial management programme called "diagnosis related groups" for
patients with critical conditions and serious diseases went into effect in
January.
Over 9
million employees have registered as members of the scheme and about 90 private
hospitals nationwide have registered as healthcare providers under the scheme.
An
employee will be assigned a state or private hospital as the prime provider.
Previously,
private hospitals received 2,400 baht (US$78) per year from the SSO for each SS
member assigned to them. Then, the hospitals would manage this budget by
themselves.
However,
the SSO found that some private hospitals did not provide medical treatment to
social security patients or transferred them to another hospital to receive
better treatment because they wanted to save their budget. This was a major
problem for patients in accessing healthcare under the scheme.
"If
they transfer patients to other hospitals, that means they spend some of the
money under the per capita subsidy to pay the other hospital for the patients'
medical expenses," he told The Nation in an interview.
Under
the new programme, the SSO will directly pay a private hospital for the cost of
treatment for an inpatient with a critical condition.
But
after the implementation of the new financial management programme, many
private hospitals transferred a lot of patients to medical schools or state
hospital as they could no longer shoulder the financial burden for a referral
case.
Some
medical schools and state hospitals are now starting to deny medical treatment
for those patients transferred from private hospitals because they do not have
enough beds for emergency cases.
"I
don't want to say the medical schools or other state hospitals are now refusing
to receive patients under social security and transferred from private
hospitals. I would rather say that they do not have enough beds for
patients," he said.
"They
can no longer provide medical treatment for patients with acute conditions who
are transferred from a private hospital as they still have a lot of patients
who also have been waiting for medical treatment. They also don't want to be
blamed for bad service," he said.
The SSO
will talk with all hospitals registered with it including private hospitals to
find a solution for this problem.
"We
don't want them to transfer patients to medical schools or other hospitals if
they can still provide medical treatment for their patients," he said.
"If
they still transfer patients to receive medical treatment to other hospitals
even though they can provide treatment for the patients, we will recall our
money back from them or seek other financial punishment for them," he
added.
Pongphon
Sarnsamak and Chularat Saengpassa
The
Nation
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