It's
about time they came up with this. Hope that this would stop those
over-charging hospitals. Hmmm......Does cheaper necessary mean that
quality is compromise? Maybe some of the people would think that
saving money is more important.
Anyway, those hospitals should try cut down on their cost.
SEPT 30, 2003
Now you can compare hospital charges
Health Ministry provides details on what different public hospitals
charge for 28 common procedures across ward classes
By Wendy Tan and Lee Hui Chieh
REMOVING an appendix costs about $729 in KK Women's and Children's
Hospital (KKH), $612 in National University Hospital (NUH) and $548
in Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) - for three days' stay in a C
class ward.
Such details are up at the Health Ministry website, allowing
patients to compare, for the first time, what hospitals charge for
different medical procedures in the different ward classes, as well
as how long they can expect to stay in hospital.
The ministry is starting with 28 common procedures, which one in
three patients are hospitalised for, and generated the information
based on patients' Medisave claims in the past 12 months.
It expects to include private hospitals' data in a few months'
time, and bring up the number of procedures to 70 eventually. The
data will be updated monthly.
Publication of such information comes after a month of work by the
ministry, which had promised to produce them before Christmas to
help people decide which hospital they should choose amid concerns
over health-care costs.
Previously, patients had no way of comparing prices between
different hospitals and depend heavily on information from doctors
or hospitals, said Acting Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan
yesterday.
Reducing this 'asymmetry of knowledge' would help patients make a
more informed choice, although he made it clear that no one should
expect that this would lead to hospitals charging one common
price.
Each would have expertise in different areas, and each patient
would face different problems.
A Straits Times check through the data showed that TTSH offers the
lowest prices among all the public hospitals for the largest number
of procedures among the 28 listed.
NUH charged among the highest prices, especially for patients in
its A and B1 class wards.
That was because, said an NUH spokesman, its A and B1 patients are
considered private patients who do not receive any subsidies.
Subsidies for B1 are about 20 per cent at other hospitals.
NUH fees, however, were comparable to TTSH for B2 and C class
patients.
Another advantage of such an open information system: Hospitals
would be alerted to areas that needed fixing, especially if their
data is way out of synch with the rest.
Said Mr Khaw: 'If your patients seem to stay much longer than other
hospitals, then I think there is a valid ground to see why it is
so. It will then direct us to ask intelligent questions.'
Changi General Hospital (CGH), for example, found out from the
exercise that its average bill size for prostate operations was
more than 40 per cent higher than other hospitals'.
This was because its patients were admitted immediately for tests
to see if surgery was needed. In other hospitals, patients were
given tests as outpatients and admitted only when they needed
surgery.
CGH said it would be changing this practice.
The Consumers Association of Singapore, which helped the ministry
with the exercise, said it would help publicise the price tables to
non-English educated people through public forums and the community
groups.
Dr Adrian Koh, 39, a family doctor in private practice, said he
does not think that patients will necessarily choose the cheapest
procedure.
He said: 'Price is not always the most important determinant
because quality is still more important for many. Most people will
still want the best doctors.'
Copyright @ 2003 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.