WILLEMSTAD - The St. Elizabeth Hospital (SEHOS) is indeed authorized to set its own rates. That is according to the Board of Management in a letter addressed to health insurers. But the hospital will only implement most tariff adjustments if the Minister of Economic Affairs also agrees.
Last week there was a fuss about the new rates of the Sint Elisabeth Hospital that apply from 1 April for privately insured patients, including tourists and uninsured. In some cases, they go up almost 85 percent.
Competence
Earlier, Minister of Health, Suzanne Camelia-Römer, said that general practitioners and specialists may adjust their rates themselves, but hospitals cannot. But by letter and ministerial order of 18 May 2016, the Minister of Economic Development indicated that he would not apply price-regulating measures in health care. He repeated that position in 2018.
SEHOS says it feels strengthened to adjust private rates in such a way that they are no longer below cost.
Ninety percent of the SEHOS patients are insured through the BVZ and for this the hospital receives a budget reimbursement from the Social Insurance Bank (SVB). The new rates apply to the remaining ten percent that are registered as private individuals.
Substantiation
The hospital has requested the Performation HOTflo company to calculate the cost prices for all products and operations on the basis of the actual figures for 2016. It became clear that on certain transactions there was a large coverage of costs, while other rates were seriously inadequate in relation to the actual costs.
The biggest difference - 84% - is the too low nursing rates. The rates for the Electro Neuro Physiology department (24%), Emergency care (1%), Radiotherapy (7%), Anesthesia (32%), Pre-operative screening (134%), childbirth (121%) and Specialist rates (45%) must go up.
The rates for the Functions Department can be reduced by 30 percent. Speech therapy (-31%), Physiotherapy (-18%), Cardiac catheterization (-13%), Hemodialysis (-19%) Hyperbaric department (-52%), Laboratory (-14%), Radiology (-19%) and the Operating room (-4%) must be lowered.
With the new rate adjustments, SEHOS wants to bring prices in line with the actual costs of the care to be provided with a margin of five percent.
Suspend
In order to meet the needs of health insurers, SEHOS will suspend the increase for nursing and ancillary rates until the Minister of Economic Affairs decides whether the earlier ministerial decision is upheld.
That certainly does not apply to the specialists' fees, says SEHOS. The Regulation for General Practitioners and Medical Specialists Curaçao of 1986 was repealed by National Decree in 2015.
