Health Insurance Patient Limits Cause Appointment Issues in Hospitals
Even though there is still time left, appointments filling up due to daily examination quotas victimize chronic patients.
Regulations limiting the number of health insurance patients per doctor cause many chronic patients to postpone their appointments or be redirected to other doctors, even when examination hours are still available.
Daily Restrictions and Resulting Grievances
Although regulations limiting the number of health insurance patients per doctor aim to improve the quality of medical examinations, they lead to shortcomings in practice.
The limitation of 65 health insurance-covered examinations per doctor in 8 hours causes chronic patients to be unable to register with the doctors they are accustomed to.
Hospital Practices and Quota Occupancy Status
At Thong Nhat Hospital, Mr. PVS, who brought his mother for diabetes, hypertension, and lupus, had to postpone her appointment because the attending doctor had reached the limit.
At Le Van Thinh Hospital, patients who came for cardiovascular and diabetes check-ups also had to leave the hospital due to the restriction.
Regulations and Views of Hospital Authorities
Dr. Truong Quang Anh Vu, Head of the Outpatient Department at Thong Nhat Hospital, stated that according to regulations, each doctor is not allowed to examine more than 65 patients in an 8-hour workday.
When the doctor reaches the 65th appointment, no new patients are accepted even though there is time for further examinations, and patients are redirected to other clinics.
Recommendations for Relaxing Current Standards
Dr. Vu suggested that health insurance regulations should be increased to allow up to 90 health insurance cases per day for each doctor during the working hours.
Dr. Nguyen Phi Hoang, Deputy Head of the Outpatient Department at Le Van Thinh Hospital, also stated that the current standard is unrealistic and requested that the limit be adjusted flexibly.