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Liu Minxia
mllmx@msn.com
A SHENZHEN hospital that has piloted a one-time charge for surgeries since January said it will expand the charging method to more surgeries as it has been well received among patients.
The University of Hong Kong Shenzhen Hospital (HKUSZ) started to levy a set charge for 10 common surgeries, including Cesarean sections and hemorrhoid surgery in late January. It included all costs, from being admitted to the hospital to being released.
Nearly 90 percent of the patients randomly surveyed by the hospital said they supported the new charging method, the hospital said.
“Preliminary feedback showed that patients are benefiting from the new charging method and they want it to be expanded,” said Chen Zhiquan, a deputy director of the hospital’s clinical affairs department. “We hope to expand it to 20 types of surgeries by July and 50 types of surgeries before the end of the year.”
Chen said that the hospital charges by the type of surgery, not by the disease and it is decided by the doctor whether or not a patient can be charged a one-time fee based on the required surgery.
The prices of the surgeries are calculated according to the average costs of the 10 surgeries in the hospital last year and will be evaluated once a year to see whether they need to be adjusted, according to Chen. A hemorrhoid operation costs 9,331 yuan (US$1,433) while a Cesarean section costs 6,344 yuan, according to the hospital.
To limit growth in medical costs for patients, China has explored different pricing methods since it started the latest medical reforms in 2009. Supported by the city government, HKUSZ is the only hospital in Guangdong Province allowed to pilot the medical pricing reform.
Set fees are common in international medical practice.
Since it opened in July 2012, HKUSZ levied one-time charges at the general outpatient clinic and in May 2013, it started to offer one-time fees for inpatient services.
Roughly 1,100 surgeries have been paid for through the new pricing method since January.
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