Healthcare Legislation by Sam Vaknin

Hospital Management

(See separate document)

The law should allow:

I. Colocation of private wing within or beside public hospital

II. Outsourcing non-clinical support services

III. Outsourcing clinical support services

IV. Outsourcing specialized clinical services

V. Private management of public hospital

VI. Private financing, construction, and leaseback of new public hospital

VII. Private financing, construction, and operation of new public hospital

VIII. Sale of public hospital as going concern

IX. Sale of public hospital for alternative use

X. Consolidation of redundant public healthcare facilities by merging them or closing down some of them

Private Sector Healthcare Monitoring and Regulatory Agency

The law should provide for the establishment of an agency to monitor and regulate private sector healthcare provision: compliance with contracts, servicing the indigent and the uninsured, imposing sanctions or "step-in" rights, and dispute resolution.

Voucher System (Nicaragua)

The law should allow for experimenting with novel payment and resource allocation techniques, such as vouchers distributed to needy populations and guaranteeing free basic service packages provided by a limited list of clinics or other healthcare facilities. Such schemes can also be managed by the private sector.

Medical Savings Accounts (Singapore)

Contributions by employers and employees accumulate over time and are used, tax-free, to pay for hospital expenses in public and private hospitals, national supplementary health insurance premiums, special procedures (including abroad), and expensive outpatient treatment and drugs for the saver and his immediate family.

Consumer Organizations

The law should encourage the formation of consumer organizations in the healthcare field (such as buyers' clubs or Health Maintenance Organizations-HMOs).

These groups will shop and tender for the best, most reasonably priced, and most efficient healthcare services for their members.

Devolution

Responsibility for the provision of some types of healthcare services and the allocation of inputs should be devolved to local authorities (municipalities).

Performance and Payments

The central authority should impose minimum performance targets in performance agreements on all healthcare facilities, both public and private. All payments - wages included - will be tied to these targets and their attainment.

Payment options should include:

Capitation - A fixed fee for a list of services to be provided to a single patient in a given period, payable even if the services were not consumed, adjusted for the patients' demographic data and reimbursement for fee-for-service items.

Diagnosis Related Group (DRG)

Resource-based Relative Value (RBRV)

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BIO:

Sam Vaknin ( http://samvak.tripod.com ) is the author of Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited and After the Rain - How the West Lost the East. He served as a columnist for Central Europe Review, PopMatters, and eBookWeb , and Bellaonline, and as a United Press International (UPI) Senior Business Correspondent. He is the the editor of mental health and Central East Europe categories in The Open Directory and Suite101.

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