HA welcomes Government's decision on fees revision
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The Hospital Authority (HA) today (May 22) welcomed the Government's decision on the fees revision of public hospitals. The HA will submit the fees revision to the Board as well as the Hospital Governing Committees of public hospitals for decision and approval. The fees revision will be effective from June 18.
The HA Chairman, Professor John Leong, said that the HA had submitted the Fees and Charges Review Report with the recommendations to the Government on December 15, 2016. The review covered fees and charges for Eligible Persons (EPs), Non-eligible Persons (NEPs) and private services.
"Subsequent to the submission of the Report with the recommendations to the Government, the HA had proactively collected views from stakeholders, including Legislative Council Members, District Councils, patient groups, professional bodies and the general public. Their feedback, together with the commentaries and public opinions in the mass media, were reflected to the Food and Health Bureau in March and April 2017 respectively for consideration," Professor Leong said.
"We note that the Government has already considered a basket of factors before making the decision. In reviewing the fees for EPs, we have also taken into account the principle of co-payment and cost sharing as people should be responsible for their own health. In particular, those who could afford to bear part of the cost should do so when seeking public healthcare services," he added.
"Our objective of adjusting the fees for Accident and Emergency (A&E) services is an attempt to shape the health seeking behaviour of the public as well as encourage the appropriate use of public hospital services through prioritisation of available health resources. It is expected that the fee adjustment would help encourage some of the semi-urgent and non-urgent patients to consider seeking other appropriate medical services so as to alleviate the pressure on A&E departments. This would relieve our A&E resources and facilities to ensure timely and proper treatment for those critical and urgent patients by the healthcare professionals."
Professor Leong pointed out that the HA will continue to enhance the services of General Out-patient Clinics (GOPCs) as well as the GOPC Public-Private Partnership Programme to assist the public in seeking primary healthcare services. Furthermore, the medical fee waiver system will also be strengthened to benefit people in need including the chronically ill, the elderly and low-income groups by streamlining the application procedures and extension of the waiver period.
The HA welcomes the Government's decision to maintain the fee for Community Nursing Services as an incentive to encourage the infirm and rehabilitation patients to receive rehabilitation treatment at home or in the community setting. The HA also appreciates that the Government agreed to increase the fees for NEPs and private services in accordance with the principle of full cost recovery in the use of public hospital services.
Ends/Monday, May 22, 2017
Issued at HKT 17:05
Issued at HKT 17:05
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