Health statistics. Minus sign

The government's plans for multi-agency healthcare will be hampered by the variability of data available in different sectors. Data collection from private hospitals, clinics and nursing homes lags far behind the NHS. Unless data collection improves, no information will be available on the care provided to the 270,000 people expected to receive rehabilitation or intermediate care in nursing homes under the NHS plan. This lack of essential data will weaken mechanisms for control.     

Private medical services in the Italian public hospitals: the case for improving HRM

This study explores how Italian public hospitals can use private medical activities run by their employed physicians as a human resources management (HRM) tool. It is based on field research in two acute-care hospitals and a review of Italian literature and laws. The Italian National Health Service (NHS) allows employed physicians to run private, patient-funded activities ("private beds", surgical operations, hospital outpatient clinics, etc.). Basic regulation is set at the national level, but it can be greatly improved at the hospital level. Private activities, if poorly managed, can damage efficiency, equity, quality of care, and public trust in the NHS. On the other hand, hospitals can also use them as leverage to improve HRM, with special attention to three issues: (1) professional evaluation, development, and training; (2) compensation policies; (3) competition for, and retention of, professionals in short supply. The two case studies presented here show great differences between the two hospitals in terms of regulation and organizational solutions that have been adopted to deal with such activities. However, in both hospitals, private activities do not seem to benefit HRM. Private activities are not systematically considered in compensation policies. Moreover, private revenues are strongly concentrated in a few physicians. Hospitals use very little of the information provided by the private activities to improve knowledge management, career development, or training planning. Finally, hospitals do not use private activities management as a tool for competing in the labor market for health professionals who are in short supply.     

Impact of private funding on access to elective hospital treatment in the regions of England and Wales. National records survey.

BACKGROUND: The UK National Health Service aims to match access to health care to the level of need and to reduce inequalities in the health of sub-populations. One in ten persons have private medical insurance (PMI). This study describes the impact of private purchasing on access to hospital care in regions according to health need. METHOD: Details of admissions to NHS hospitals in one year and waiting times were obtained from the government's Hospital Episodes Statistics, and of patients in independent hospitals through weighted time samples of records. Data were combined into two groups, state funded and privately funded patients. The prevalence of limiting longstanding illness and the proportions of individuals covered by PMI in Wales and the eight English health regions were obtained from the General Household Survey. Correlation coefficients were calculated for inter-regional relationships between measures of need, provision of resources and levels of activity. RESULTS: Limiting, longstanding illness was significantly associated with NHS resource levels, NHS hospital activity, and total hospital activity, however funded; and inversely with PMI coverage, waiting times for NHS admission and levels of privately funded activity. Waiting times for admission were positively correlated with PMI coverage. CONCLUSIONS: Regionally, NHS resources and activity match need. Private hospital use complements lower levels of NHS service. Private consumption does not distort access according to need but in regions with lower levels of NHS activity those least deprived may make relatively more use of NHS hospitals, thus widening the health gap. Small area studies should explore this.     

Competing for private patient revenue

The opportunity to maximise revenue from private patients is now available to NHS hospitals. A survey of UGMs found that most felt they could compete with private hospitals but identified a number of obstacles. David Jones analyses the survey.     

马来西亚卫生体系改革及对我国的启示

马来西亚卫生体系继承英国的国家卫生服务制度,有相对较为完整的公立卫生服务体系。但自20世纪70年代开始,马来西亚的私立医疗机构和私立医疗保险也得到了快速发展。本文主要描述了马来西亚卫生体系现状及主要私有化改革举措,认为马来西亚目前的医疗卫生机构主要存在完全公立医院、完全私立医院、公司化运作的公立医院和部分科室采取私有化运行的公立医院4种类型。文章进一步提出对我国规范发展私立医疗机构的启示：公民对卫生政策制订和实施应有更大发言权;合理界定公立和私立卫生机构;加强私立医疗卫生机构和私立医疗保险的管理;加快对私立医疗卫生机构管理的立法进程;建立公立和私立医疗卫生机构的合作机制。     

Independent sector regulation. Privates on parade

The government's proposal to set up a new regulatory body for the private and voluntary sectors is regrettable. The major hospital groups in the private sector could undertake some system of clinical governance. Whatever form regulation takes, it must be supported by much better information on the private sector, including consultants' activity rates and rates of re-admission and numbers of transfers to NHS hospitals.     

Private patients in NHS hospitals: comparison of two sources of information.

BACKGROUND: The use of National Health Service (NHS) hospitals to treat private patients is debatable on the grounds of equity of access. Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES) annual reports are the only routine source of information on the scale of this activity. The accuracy of the information is doubted. This enquiry tested the completeness of HES data against information obtained directly from private patient unit managers. METHOD: Managers of the 71 pay bed units in NHS hospitals in England were asked to supply from local registers and accounts the numbers of in-patients and day cases admitted in 1995-1996. Their reports were matched with the numbers of first consultant episodes for private in-patients and day cases shown for those hospitals in the HES data file for that year. RESULTS: Of the 71 units 62 responded; 53 of these gave usable data. The 53 included, and 18 excluded from the comparison, matched on median and range of bed numbers. Managers identified 16 per cent more total admissions than did HES, 62,572 against 54,131; 13 per cent more in-patient admissions, 39,776 against 35,319; and 21 per cent more day cases, 22,796 against 18,812. More total admissions were reported by managers of 38 pay bed units than were recorded in HES, fewer by 12, and equal numbers by three. Similar sized discrepancies were noted for in-patient admissions and day cases. Reasons for the under-reporting of private patients in HES included the use of separate patient administration systems for private patients with a failure to feed data to HES, and the omission of some provider units altogether by a minority of trusts from the returns made to the Department of Health. CONCLUSION: Overall, HES underestimates the amount of private patient activity reported directly by NHS hospitals. No method of validating private patient data is currently available. An amendment to an existing statistical return would provide a check on numbers. Central guidance on the inclusion of private patient activity in data transmitted by providers to the HES processing agency should be reinforced.     

Introduction of freedom of choice for hospital outpatient care in Portugal: Implications and results of the 2016 reform

In Portugal, the National Health Service (NHS) assures universal access to medical treatment and care that is free at the point of delivery – except for relatively small user charges. Freedom of choice is limited and competition between the public and the private sectors is almost non-existent. In May 2016, the Ministry of Health introduced a new law that facilitates the referral of NHS users from primary healthcare units to outpatient consultations in NHS hospitals outside of the referral area. However, for inpatient care, patients are still bound to receive treatment within their referral area, which is determined by place of residence. The aim of the reform was to provide a timelier response to citizens' health needs and to increase efficiency. According to preliminary data from June 2016 to May 2017, 10.6% of all outpatient referrals from NHS primary health care units were made to an NHS hospital out of the referral area, with the highest proportion in the Lisbon (15.8%) region. In general, median waiting time for first outpatient consultation increased after the introduction of choice in the five specialties with the highest proportions of out-of-area referrals - but it reduced in two departments with the longest waiting times prior to the reform. The reform constitutes a major change to the relationship between NHS hospitals, with foreseeable consequences in hospital funding and the patients' perception of hospital quality.     

Competition policy for health care provision in Portugal

We review the role of competition among healthcare providers in Portugal, which has a public National Health Service (NHS) at the core of the health system. There is little competition among healthcare providers within the NHS. Competition among NHS primary care providers is hindered by excess demand (many residents in Portugal do not have a designated family doctor). Competition among NHS hospitals has been traditionally limited to cases of maximum guaranteed waiting time for surgery being exceeded. The Portuguese Competition Authority enforces competition law. It has focused on mergers between private hospitals and abuse of market power (including cartel cases) by private healthcare providers. The Healthcare Regulation Authority produced several reports on particular areas of activity by private healthcare providers. The main conclusion of these reviews was lack of conditions for effective competition, with the exception of dentistry. Within the NHS, the use of tendering procedures was able to create “competition for the market” in particular areas though it was not problem free. Details in the particular design adopted matter a lot.Overall, the scope for competition policy and for competition among healthcare providers to have a main role in a health system based on a public National Health Service seems limited, with more relevance to “competition for the market” situations than to “competition in the market”.     

民营医院医疗消费需求现状及发展——基于北京市某民营妇产医院的典型调查

目的探究民营医院发展的优势、不足与对策,促进民营医院和医疗市场的健康发展。方法通过对北京地区以M为代表的民营妇产医院医疗需求典型调查,采集其就医者人口学分布、选择驱动因素、满意度等数据,并结合X、S为代表的公立医院妇产科就医者数据作为对照。结果民营医院就医者总体满意度高于公立医院,在基础设施和服务态度分项中的就医满意度明显优于公立医院,但在收费方面满意度低于公立医院。结论高经济、教育背景的就医者更倾向选择民营医院;就医者对民营医院的整体满意度与认可度在逐步提高;相比于公立医院,民营医院在环境与服务方面更具优势,但在收费与权威性方面仍受少量质疑。建议进一步放开民营医院发展限制;民营医院根据细分的医疗市场规划战略定位;严格内部管理,提升综合服务能力。     

基于DRGs的医疗服务绩效差异分析:以二级综合医院为例

目的对成都市二级民营综合医院与公立综合医院住院医疗服务绩效进行DRGs分析和比较,找出差异,提出建议。方法收集2019年成都市二级民营综合医院和二级公立综合医院住院病案首页数据,利用四川省DRGs应用平台进行分组计算,使用SPSS 20.0软件进行指标分析。结果成都市二级民营综合医院与二级公立综合医院2019年住院医疗服务绩效在医疗服务（总权重、覆盖DRGs组数和CMI值）、医疗效率（时间消耗指数、费用消耗指数）上并无显著差异,但在医疗质量与安全（中低风险及以下组病死率、标化病死率）上差异明显。结论二级民营综合医院与二级公立综合医院整体医疗服务差距逐渐缩小;二级民营综合医院内部发展不均衡,医疗质量与安全水平低于二级公立综合医院。建议持续提升民营综合医院服务能力,加强民营综合医院医疗质量与安全管理,同时政府须对民营医院强化监管。     

Private medical insurance and saving: evidence from the British Household Panel Survey

This paper uses the British Household Panel Survey for the years 1996-2000 to investigate the relationship between saving and private medical insurance in the UK. Because the National Health Service (NHS) gives comprehensive health coverage and is generally free at source, one would not expect private medical insurance to crowd-out saving. However, the NHS being characterised by long waiting lists and generally poor quality, many people prefer to use private health services. In such circumstances, those individuals who are not covered by private medical insurance, and who are therefore more exposed to facing unexpected out-of-pocket private health care expenditures or income losses while waiting for public treatment might save more for precautionary reasons than those who are covered. According to our findings, which are based on a wide range of econometric specifications, there is a positive association between insurance coverage and saving, suggesting that private medical insurance does not generally crowd-out private saving. However, we found some evidence of crowding-out in those areas where the quality of medical facilities is perceived as poor, and in rural areas, characterised by fewer NHS providers.     

我国社会办医发展现状研究

目的：分析我国社会资本办医的发展现状。方法：以国家卫生和计划生育委员会发布的卫生统计年鉴数据为基础,从机构数、床位、卫生人员、市场份额、地域分布等角度进行分析,并将社会医疗机构与公立医疗机构的发展状况进行对比。结果：2012年,全国社会医疗机构总数44.7万家,床位总数63.3万张,其中86%的民办医院床位数在100张以下;民办医院的卫生人员共65.5万人,其中,民办医院执业（助理）医师比例明显高于公立医院;全国民办医院诊疗人次和住院人次分别为25 295.3万和1 396.3万,床位使用率为63.2%;中西部地区社会医疗机构发展较为缓慢。结论：目前我国社会医疗机构中,民办医院的发展势头优于民办基层医疗卫生机构,但总体上民办医院在所有医疗机构中的占比仍然偏小,床位规模较大的医院比例较低。社会医疗机构的医务人员特别是护士资源匮乏,与公立医疗机构相比其市场竞争力不足,且区域发展不均衡。     

民营医院虚假广告的法律问题

民营医院的产生对于我国医疗卫生事业的改革和发展起了重要的推动作用.然而,民营医院经营中的虚假广告等问题也严重影响了其自身的发展.2006年颁布的<医疗广告管理办法>从广告的内容、审查程序和违规处罚等方面,加大了对医疗广告的规范力度,有利于改变民营医院经营中的虚假广告的现状,从宣传方法角度规范民营医院的经营.     

Lessons from New Zealand for England's NHS Foundation Trusts

The legislation to devolve responsibility for the management and operation of England's top-performing NHS hospitals to community-owned NHS Foundation Trusts raises several issues relating to the challenges posed to governance structures by private non-profit ownership and control of assets used to provide government-financed services. Building upon the lessons learned from devolution of public hospital governance in New Zealand to boards at arm's-length from central control during the 1990s, this paper analyses the English NHS hospital changes. Whilst local political accountability and competition between hospitals indicate that the English reforms may be more successful in meeting patients' needs more efficiently than the New Zealand reforms, the English proposals may be compromised by the ability of staff to become members of Trusts, boards bearing risks of decisions outside their control whilst simultaneously being insulated from the consequences of their decisions by a 'soft budget constraint', and conflicts of interest as boards simultaneously act as agents of both central regulators and local beneficiaries.     

患者选择公立或民营医院就诊的影响因素分析——以中老年患者为例

本文采用二项Logistic回归模型,利用2011年"中国健康与养老追踪调查"(CHALRS)数据,对中老年就诊患者选择公立或民营医院的影响因素进行分析。研究发现自评健康、就诊咨询、使用基本医疗保险报销等因素影响显著。健康存量越小、有就诊咨询需求、使用基本医疗保险报销的患者选择公立医院的概率相对较高。说明中老年就诊患者在处理疾病风险时更信赖公立医院,医保定点医院主要集中在公立医院,进一步推动了患者选择公立医院就诊。建议加强对老年性疾病的预防和控制;提高医院的咨询服务水平;加强对民营医院的扶持,放开民营医院的价格限制,调整医保定点医院的准入机制;加强行业监管和信息公开。     

Study of public and private hospital care on a population basis, 1986-1996]

INTRODUCTION: The last decade saw the creation and implementation of the Brazilian National Health System (NHS)--public, universal and equalitarian--with the objective of offering wide coverage to meet the population's health needs. The objective of the study was the assessment of the evolution of public and private hospital care on a populational basis during the period of the implementation of the NHS. METHODS: The 984,142 inpatients of the general hospitals of Ribeir?o Preto, Brazil, during the period 1986 to 1996 were studied and those of them living in their own municipal district were selected. The inpatients are classified according to the financing system as private, pre-payment and NHS; the social situation of the patients and the profile of hospital morbidity are analysed. RESULTS: In the period studied a continuous growth in the number of hospitalizations is observed, both in absolute numbers and in coefficient per thousand inhabitants, increasing from 43,773 to 55,844 inpatients per year. Though when the categories of the hospitalizations are studied, it is seen that private inpatients present a reduction both in absolute numbers and as a coefficient from 3,181 (7.3%) to 2,215 (3.9%); the NHS inpatients decrease in absolute numbers and in a percentage by a third at the end of the period--falling from 33,254 (76.0%) to 29,373 (51.7%). On the other hand the pre-payment inpatient system triplicates in absolute numbers and duplicates by rate for inhabitant--from 7,338 (16.8%) to 25,256 (44.4%). The NHS hospital care attends mainly unskilled and semi-skilled manual workers; the professionals, technicians, non manual and skilled manual workers being assisted by the private services. The hospital morbidity of NHS inpatients is different from that of the private inpatient systems. The health policy in that period, limiting NHS financing, repressing demand and discouraging the private providers to work with NHS inpatients led to negative selectivity. The result was an increase in difference between standards of care as between the public and private services.     

Does increased use of private health care reduce the demand for NHS care? A prospective survey of general practice referrals

BACKGROUND: The use of the private sector for health care is increasing, but it is unclear whether this will reduce demand on the NHS. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between private and NHS outpatient referral rates accounting for their association with deprivation. METHODS: This is a prospective survey of general practitioner referrals to private and NHS consultant-led services between 1 January and 31 December 2001 from 10 general practices in the Trent Focus Collaborative Research Network, United Kingdom. Patient referrals were aggregated to give private and NHS referral rates for each electoral ward in each practice. RESULTS: Of 17,137 referrals, 90.4 percent (15,495) were to the NHS and 9.6 percent (1642) to the private sector. Private referral rates were lower in patients from the most deprived fifth of wards compared with the least deprived fifth (rate ratio 0.25, 95 percent CI 0.15 to 0.41, p < 0.001), whereas NHS referral rates were slightly higher in patients in the most deprived fifth of wards (rate ratio 1.18, 95 percent CI 0.98 to 1.42, p = 0.08) both after age standardisation and adjustment for practice. The NHS referral rate was significantly higher (rate ratio 1.40, 95 percent CI 1.15 to 1.71, p = 0.001) in wards with private referral rates in the top fifth compared with the bottom fifth after adjustment for deprivation and practice. CONCLUSIONS: Increased private health care activity does not reduce the demand for NHS care: NHS and private referral rates were positively associated with each other after adjusting for age, deprivation and practice.     

民营医院在新医改中的角色浅析

民营医院虽然已经存在相当一段时间，但真正在我国医疗卫生事业和医改工作中也得到关注也只是近些年的事情。相对于欧美国家中民营医院的历史发展与定位，我国民营医院无论是从起步阶段还是在前进中都遇到了来自专业领域和社会群体的种种困难和压力，虽然政策层面已对民营医院发展的倾向渐强，但“先天不足、后天空间局限”的情况依然不易改变，而这就需要民营医疗机构对自身的在此之中的角色有更加清晰的认识，才能实现突破和发展。     

Public-private partnerships. Public pain, private gain

Using private hospitals over 11 weeks this winter enabled a health authority to remove more than 1,000 patients from waiting lists. Prices were comparable to, and sometimes cheaper than, the NHS. The average cost was 1,120 Pounds per treatment. Patient satisfaction seemed high. Consultant productivity was higher in the private sector.