What solutions prevent hospital brokers?

On July 30, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health held an urgent meeting with leaders of several hospitals to find solutions to prevent the situation of "brokers" in medical examination and treatment. Associate Professor, Doctor, Doctor Tang Chi Thuong, Director of the Department of Health chaired the meeting.

Hospital leaders discuss at the meeting

Attending were leaders of the Internal Political Security Department (PA03) - Ho Chi Minh City Police, Cho Ray Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy Hospital, general and specialized hospitals at the end of the line in Ho Chi Minh City...

No tolerance for "brokers"

At the workshop, hospital leaders frankly shared the difficulties as well as many solutions in controlling the flow of patients, especially at the hospital gate areas - where spontaneous contact between patients and outsiders is likely to arise.

Sharing her experience in fighting hospital brokers, Associate Professor, Doctor, Doctor Hoang Thi Diem Tuyet, Director of Hung Vuong Hospital, said that hospital brokers appear when people have a need. Patients coming to the hospital see a lot of people, complicated examination procedures, long waiting times... brokers will arise. To solve this situation, according to Dr. Diem Tuyet, the hospital has improved the customer care area, always having staff to receive patients from early morning. When patients enter the hospital, they will be welcomed and guided by this team. In addition, promoting registration for examination, making appointments via the "app", when patients arrive, they go in for examination and pay; register for examination via the switchboard...

According to Associate Professor, Doctor, Doctor Tang Chi Thuong, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health , the situation of hospital "brokers" is not a new problem but has recently been on the rise again. This is the most worrying problem, especially in hospitals with a large number of patients, where people are easily lured into outside services due to lack of information. The city's health sector clearly affirms its zero tolerance stance towards any "broker" behavior. This phenomenon seriously harms the rights of patients and the reputation of hospitals, while creating a negative environment, affecting the quality of service of the entire sector.

"There is no phenomenon of medical staff colluding with 'brokers' in the city's public hospitals. The Department of Health acknowledges the efforts and solutions of the hospitals, especially hospitals that no longer have the phenomenon of 'brokers' such as Children's Hospital 1, Hung Vuong, and Children's Hospital 2..."

Associate Professor, Doctor, Doctor Tang Chi Thuong informed.

Associate Professor, Doctor, Doctor Tang Chi Thuong speaks at the meeting

Strengthening measures to prevent hospital brokers

To eliminate the possibility of hospital brokers, Associate Professor, Doctor, and Physician Tang Chi Thuong requested that hospitals promote digital transformation in medical examination and treatment, especially implementing remote appointment booking via apps, websites, or call centers. This is a fundamental solution to eliminate the operating environment of “brokers” and is also an indicator to evaluate the quality of hospital services. Many hospitals have proactively built or integrated applications that allow patients to choose doctors, choose examination times, pay online, and receive remote electronic examination forms.

Hospitals need to simplify the admission process, moving towards a “one-step” or “no-step” model for some sensitive diseases such as obstetrics, andrology, family planning – that is, patients can go straight to the clinic when they have an electronic identification. A streamlined process with few waiting points is an effective barrier to prevent “brokers”. At the same time, improve the capacity to perform and return paraclinical results within the day, integrate the testing system into the doctor’s prescription software so that patients are guided in the sequence, location, and specific time. Some hospitals such as University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Hung Vuong and Nhi Dong 1 have implemented this model very effectively.

The Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health suggested that hospitals should organize medical examinations from early morning to late afternoon continuously, especially for workers and people from far away provinces. The goal is to help patients complete the medical examination and treatment process in one session, reduce waiting time, reduce crowding and prevent unauthorized access. In addition, coordinate with the City Police in deploying a smart camera system capable of identifying people entering and exiting, supporting security monitoring and managing patient flow at hospitals with large examination volumes.

In the long term, the Ho Chi Minh City health sector will continue to propose investment in expanding facilities at overloaded and degraded hospitals, while building more facilities at end-line hospitals - to reduce pressure, shorten waiting times and improve service quality. At the same time, hospitals are required to maintain customer care teams, social work departments, volunteers and survey dissatisfied patients to support patients from the smallest details.

"People should not contact or follow the instructions of strangers in front of the hospital gate, and only make appointments and receive instructions through the hospital's official channels. When detecting unusual behavior, people can report it through the hospital's hotline or contact the Department of Health at the hotline numbers: 0967.771.010 or 0989.401.155," Associate Professor, Doctor, Doctor Tang Chi Thuong advised.

THANH AN

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/giai-phap-nao-ngan-chan-co-benh-vien-post806082.html