Dominance by private hospital groups and their cosy relationships with specialist doctors and medical schemes, coupled with gaps in regulation and a lack of transparency, have been identified as the major causes of expensive private healthcare in SA, reports Business Day.
A Competition Commission investigation into the healthcare industry has received 68 submissions. Most acknowledged that private healthcare inflation was higher than general inflation and that private healthcare costs were too high. Many differed on the reasons for this.
The inquiry, established to investigate factors that may be hampering competition in SA’s private health industry, is led by retired chief justice Sandile Ngcobo and consists of medical experts and health economists. It was established after persistent complaints by Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi that private hospital groups were responsible for the high costs of private healthcare.
The report says the panel heading the inquiry published non-confidential versions of the submissions and asked the public to challenge any inaccurate and misleading submissions. Ngcobo said submissions were received from hospital groups, healthcare practitioners and their associations, healthcare funders and administrators, nongovernmental organisations, trade unions, the government and private individuals.
"A fair number of submissions raised concerns about lack of information on the part of patients, highlighting a general lack of transparency in accessing private healthcare information, in particular on pricing, costs and quality of services," he said. "They have submitted that this lack of information places patients at a disadvantage when making decisions on services."
Before publishing the submissions, the panel had to address confidentiality claims made in respect of 17 submissions. Confidentiality was sought in areas such as salaries, the profitability of companies, how they determined their prices and their strategies.
Department of Health deputy director-general Anban Pillay said the panel would have to find a way to make it possible for the public to comment on confidential submissions. The public has until 5 March to comment. In April the panel will convene a meeting to work out a timetable for public hearings. The panel is expected to deliver its final report at the end of November.
But submissions from the private healthcare sector claim that millions of South Africans are paying billions of rands more than they should be to medical aids, doctors and hospitals, thanks to red tape choking the private healthcare sector, reports The Times. Government hospitals, with their deteriorating infrastructure and services leading to guaranteed work for the private sector, have also been cited in the submissions. In its submissions, Netcare says that an "inflexible and regulatory regime constrains innovations and limits competition". "These factors individually and cumulatively retard private hospitals' ability to significantly lower prices."
[link url="http://www.bdlive.co.za/business/healthcare/2015/02/06/cosy-relationship-raises-health-costs"]Full Business Day report[/link]
[link url="http://www.healthinquiry.net/Public%20Submissions/Forms/Board%20Of%20Healthcare%20Funders%20of%20SA%20BHF.aspx"]Public submissions[/link]
[link url="http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/2015/02/09/red-tape-wasting-healthcare-billions"]Full report in The Times[/link]