Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ8: GProvision of medical services to private patients in public hospitals
Following is a question by the Hon Ng Leung-sing and a written reply by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr Yeoh Eng-kiong, in the Legislative Council today (May 7):
Question :
Regarding the "private services" provided by the Hospital Authority ("HA"), will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the expenditure on and manpower deployed to provide such services, and the percentages of such figures in the respective totals, as well as the relevant income to expenditure ratio, in each of the past five years;
(b) of the number of attendances of such services by "non-eligible" persons, as classified by HA, and the related expenditure in each of the past five years, together with the percentages of such figures in the respective totals; and
(c) whether it has assessed if it is essential for HA to provide such services; if it has, of the detailed results of the assessment; if such services or some of them are assessed to be essential, of the detailed justifications and whether the relevant authorities will impose different levels of charges according to the eligibility or otherwise of the patients?
Answer :
(a) Provision of medical services for public and private patients share the same team of healthcare workers and most of the hospital facilities. As such, information on the cost and manpower deployed in the provision of medical services to private patients in public hospitals is not readily available. The income received from private patients (including inpatients and outpatients) for the four years from 1999/2000 to 2002/03 is listed below.
Year
Income (in $ million)
1999/2000
54.7
2000/2001
62.2
2001/2002
65.0
2002/2003 (estimate) 74.4
Information for 1998/1999 is not readily available as the information system in place at that time did not capture such statistics.
(b) The number of non-eligible persons (NEPs) using private inpatient facilities and expressed as a percentage of the total number of patients using such facilities is listed below.
Year
No. of cases Percentage
1999/2000
580
5.7 per cent
2000/2001
479
4.7 per cent
2001/2002
638
4.9 per cent
2002/2003 (estimate) 702
5.9 per cent
Information on NEPs using private outpatient facilities is not readily available.
(c) Provision of private inpatient and outpatient facilities offers patients of public hospitals with an alternative service choice, which by established policy, is charged at a rate at least equal to the cost of providing such services. By way of reference, the Hospital Authority (HA) operates less than 400 private service inpatient beds, out of a total of 29 288 hospital inpatient beds, and private services accounted for less than 1 per cent of its specialist outpatient attendances in 2001/02. Arising from the restructuring of fees and charges for public health care services, effective from April 1, 2003 HA charges market rates for private services, which should at least equal the full cost of providing such services. Unlike public services where there is a need to differentiate eligible persons (EPs) from NEPs to ensure that heavily subsidised public health care services should not be diverted to non-Hong Kong residents and visitors at the expense of Hong Kong residents, no public subsidy is involved in the provision of medical services to private patients which are charged at the market rates. As such, there is no need to charge EPs and NEPs at different rates for use of private services of HA.
End/Wednesday, May 7, 2003
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