New bill to ensure transparency: Manto
Gabi Khumalo
9 June 2008
The intention of the National Health Amendment Bill is to create transparency and to make the private hospital sector more viable, says Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang.
"The primary intention of the bill is to create transparency and not to fix prices, the funders and services providers such as private hospitals will still engage and determine the price particularly for the prescribed minimum benefits," said Tshabalala-Msimang in Pretoria this week.
She was addressing the representatives of the private health sector during a meeting, as part of the process of several engagements on the bill, which has been tabled before Parliament.
In an earlier meeting, the stakeholders including Hospital Association of South Africa, Netcare, Medi-Clinic, Life Health Care and the National Hospital Network, requested that the Bill be withdrawn because they viewed it as price-setting regulation for the industry.
Regulatory framework
Tshabalala-Msimang explained that the department viewed the Bill as creating a regulatory framework through which the prices were negotiated, a practice that occurs in many developed countries.
She said the bill provided for a transparent process through which funders and providers of health services could negotiate and determine the prices with the assistance of an independent facilitator appointed through public nomination, while also making provision for arbitration if the parties did not agree on appropriate tariffs.
The National Health Amendment Bill is a proposal from the department aimed at achieving transparency on the costs forming the basis for prices and removal of conflicts inherent in the current price-setting framework.
The bill also seeks to prevent unjustified cost escalations and unfair, collusive and undesirable business practices.
Both parties agreed that the parliamentary process would be used to make further input into the finalisation of the bill and that Parliament would make final determination on the passing of the Act.
Source: BuaNews
