Financial guarantees needed to protect hospitals

• Source: Global Times
• [09:06 October 23 2009]
• Comments

By Eric Rui

The Department of Medical Administration of China's Ministry of Health is piloting a system of "treatment fi rst and settlement later"at emergency and outpatient departments in some hospitals in Beijing.

However, whether the system can be generalized to the whole country depends on the establishment of the patient credit system and the hospital risk control system.

To heal the wounded and rescue the dying is the first duty of a doctor. This principle is shared by all healthcare systems around the world.

However, some hospitals attach so much importance to profit that they will delay treatment when patients are unable to immediately pay the medical expenses.

The new system of "treatment first and settlement later" is addressing these conduct, establishing the principle of fair treatment for all during the new round of healthcare reform.

One of the greatest difficulties of implementing the new system, however, lies in how to establish mutual trust between doctors and patients.

China's individual credit system is still in the embryonic stage. There is no quick and easy way to check the credit history of a patient, especially with the increasing mobility of Chinese society.

In many Western countries, a well-established individual credit system supports the practice of emergency screening or treatments for patients without paying the medical costs first.