Dept eases criteria to make sure better access
More private clinics will from next week be recruited to join the general health scheme’s main care network in Bangkok, to make treatment more accessible plus cheaper for users.
An additional 300 clinics are required to join the primary care system from Oct 1, said Dr Jadej Thammatacharee, secretary-general of the National Wellness Security Office (NHSO), yesterday.
Some 200 this kind of clinics are already helping patients presenting with mild ailments. These are referred to a larger healthcare facility if their illnesses require more advanced medical care. The capital has regarding 2, 000 private medical clinics within the capital.
The clinics will be fully reimbursed just for services provided in order to patients under the plan two to three days following treatment, he stated.
The NHSO has also decided to allow those centers operating only from late in the mid-day into the evening also to join the scheme. “This is important because many clinics are usually run by doctors who work full-time at state-run hospitals, which means they are usually open after these physicians finish their work, ” he said.
Earlier, private clinics thinking about joining the structure were told they must operate at least eight hours a day and have a full laboratory capability, he said, adding that these requirements have been lifted.
“We think there are enough personal clinics [to help serve our patients in the community], but many may have been banned by the rules or even lacked sufficient motivation to join the plan, so we’ve transformed those rules, inch he said.
Improvements in the speed and rate of healthcare providers should also help appeal to more clinics to do business with the NHSO, he or she said.
After joining the particular scheme, the treatment centers will be plugged into the universal health programme’s billing and patient data networks, that will allow them to record their activities plus submit invoices instantly, he said.
In the future, the particular NHSO may permit private clinics consist of cities to join the scheme, he said.
Bangkok is a priority now because hospitals there are far more crowded within other provinces, he or she said.