“Somsak”, Minister of Public Health, is confident in solving the problem of private hospitals losing money, preparing to leave the social security system, aiming to adjust the medical treatment payment rates to be equal as soon as possible.
Mr. Somsak Thepsuthin, Minister of Public Health, spoke about the case where many private hospitals signaled their withdrawal from the social security system after their medical budgets were reduced, saying that the problem is that the medical treatment fees of private hospital clinics or hospitals under the Ministry of Public Health have different payment rates per visit. When receiving treatment at university hospitals, the cost will be higher. From the numbers surveyed from the operations, we see that if we pay in the same way, private hospitals or clinics will be at a disadvantage.
The initial solution from the meeting with the board that he is the chairman of must be to make it equal or do one thing to avoid any inconsistency in the operation. Since the university
hospital has higher expenses, there must be negotiation to make the expenses for the same type equal.
When they saw the numbers, what they complained about was a loss, in fact, it wasn’t. It was a matter of unequal payments. If the payments were the same, then look at university hospitals, which are already crowded, focusing on secondary and tertiary care at a higher level than primary care. Therefore, guidelines were given in the meeting, confirming that it must be done as soon as possible because it was almost the new year. Because if we delve into the numbers, we would see that if they were the same, there would be no problem. But why did they get less, even though they could provide the same treatment?
This can be fixed. We are administrators who understand the cost of primary care and how much it costs. We must allow them to make a profit. But if something is too good, such as university hospitals with high costs, that is better than the standard, we must talk about it. Don’t rely on high standards as
the main principle. You must adhere to the correct standards of the ministry in order to succeed.
Source: Thai News Agency