practice in the private healthcare industry
31 July 2007
Regulations have been published in the Government Gazette enabling the
Department of Health to take measures to eliminate perverse incentives,
unethical business practices and unprofessional conduct from the private health
care industry.
The department is also planning to convene stakeholders in the health
industry to discuss additional measures that should be taken to ensure
transparency and ethical business practice in the sector. This exercise forms
part of the Department of Health's overall strategy towards increasing access
to affordable health care in the country.
The regulations enable the department to obtain information from the private
health sector that is necessary for the development of the national health
reference price list. The reference price list is a set of prices that are used
as reference in billing for health services, procedures, consumable and
disposable items.
The regulations enable the Director-General of the Department of Health to
obtain information relating to health financing, the pricing of health services
and other business practices from private health establishments. This
information may include the following:
* income and expenditure
* details of agreements with third parties
* cost of medicines and other medical devices and consumables used in the
delivery of health services
* billing guidelines and rules.
The regulations require that the information submitted be accurate and the
Director-General may require supporting documentation for verification
purposes.
The Director-General will use this information to determine the reference
price list. In developing the reference price list, the Director-General will
seek to eliminate perverse incentives, unethical business practices and
unprofessional conduct from the health care industry.
The Director-General will also take into consideration the need to improve
efficiency and quality in the delivery of health services, increase access to
these services while enabling the private health establishments to have a
return on investment and providers to earn an income.
The regulations are available on the Department of Health website � http://www.doh.gov.za.
Contact:
Sibani Mngadi
Cell: 082 772 0161
Charity Bhengu
Cell: 083 679 7424
Issued by: Department of Health
31 July 2007
