The Times of India       12.09.2014 

NMC to ask private hospitals to display rate cards

NASHIK:
The civic body health department will soon issue notices to private
hospitals to display rate cards in the premises, following a Bombay high
court order in July making it mandatory for medical institutes to
display the information.

The deputy director of health recently
sent a circular to the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) asking them
to implement the order of the court. This will make it mandatory for all
medical establishments to display the schedule of charges payable for
different treatments, surgeries and other services on the notice board
like that in government hospitals. The rate card is expected to end
billing disputes between patients and hospitals.

NMC medical
superintendent B R Gaikwad said, “We have received the letter from the
deputy director of health. We will send notices to all the private
hospitals very soon.”

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) that
had taken objection to government decision remains firm on its stand.
Rahul Aher, president of the Nashik branch of IMA, said that the central
organization was following up the issue with the authorities concerned
and is trying to get the proposal stalled.

“Displaying the rate
card is not a good idea for the doctor or the patient. This will worsen
the doctor-patient relationship. The bed charges and the doctor’s fees
are displayed by big hospitals and are also on the hospital records. The
hospitals also give rate cards and when the patient goes to the
hospital, the receptionist also asks about the category that they would
like to opt for treatment,” he said.

Aher added that hospitals
do not charge patients as per every injection and all these are charged
under drug cost. The surgical charges vary as per the complications,
though the type of surgery may be the same.

“The operation
theatre charges are proportional to the surgical charges. No doctor will
keep the patient on operation table or on anesthesia for long hours.
This rate card system like hotels is not good. This would increase the
distrust between the patient and the doctors,” he said.

A city
doctor said that it was an unfair move and if the rates increase due to
health complications during the treatment, the patient would feel
cheated.

Some doctors, however, welcomed the move saying that
it will bring in transparency in hospital administration. “The more the
transparency, the better it is as the patient will at least know the
approximate amount for various treatments,” said medical practitioner
Raviraj Khairnar.

Administrator of Apollo Hospitals Sudheer Rai
said, “It is a good thing and the patient and relatives will know what
they are spending and what each treatment costs. This is the right thing
to do. Transparency is anytime good. We have a tariff booklet and plan
to display the rate card in two languages.”

Nashik centre head
for Wockhardt Hospitals Avinash Agarwal said that their corporate office
at Mumbai will take the decision regarding the issue and inform them
about it.

On July 1, Justice V M Kanade and Justice P D Kendre
while directing that the hospitals should display rates also stressed
that the hospitals cannot hold back the bodies over non-payment of
bills. The division bench had said that people probably vandalise
hospitals since there was no control over private hospitals.

The bench was hearing two petitions against two well-known hospitals in
Mumbai. The bench decided to treat one of the petitions as a public
interest litigation to address the larger issues so that directions can
be given, guidelines framed and mechanism evolved to help hospitals
recover their dues. During the hearing, the government clarified that
hospitals have no legal right to detain patients, though they can file
suits to recover their money; even foreign courts. Currently, there is
no mechanism to regulate hospitals over recovery of bills.

Justice Kanade also pointed out that in some cases the doctors do not
even visit the patients and yet the fees are charged for the same.
Noting that hospitals have not yet done so and based on the complaints
with respect to it, the deputy director of health sent the notice to the
NMC along with a sample of how the rates are to be displayed.