Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Changi General Hospital thinks out of box to solve overcrowding ( but I said it first)
Dear Friends
Changi General takes a small step ( but significant one) to try to solve severe overcrowding at the Accident & Emergency Dept ( A&E). ( click here)
It incentivises patient to try to seek treatment at their neighbourhood General Practitioners (GP) first.
If after that the GP still deems them serious enough to seek re-attendance at the A&E, they are accorded a $50 discount.
This is good as:
1. Non-emergency cases will be seen ( more quickly) by their GP's at a lower total cause. ie $30-50 GP fees compared to $100 A & E fees.
Even if re-attended at A & E : total fees will be $80-100 .
2. Non-emergency cases will not clog up the A&E- leaving the remaining ( ie less) emergency cases to be seen by the already over-burdened doctors/nurses.
Most stakeholders will be happier:
1. Non-emergency patient : happy! 2. Emergency patient: happy! 3. GP lagi happy! 4. A&E docs/nurses lagi lagi happy!
Slightly unhappy: if emergency case goes to EXPENSIVE GP who charges $150... then gets referred back to A&E to only get $50 discount... TOTAL BILL: $200 but he will be fast-tracked and does not have to wait with the rest of the crowd... so Not so unhappy!
BTW: CGH copied my idea! Really!
I wrote on this exact topic ( click here) and this was published in the newspaper's forum pages and I thought it was forgotten... BUT.. no... nothing is ever wasted. I always thought it was feasible!
In life- there are always negative people who will pour cold water on anything new others want to introduce... why rock the boat ( they say)... society is not ready ( they say)... this is Singapore and we do things differently from the rest of the whole wide world ( they say)...
But I say- Huat Ah! Just say and do what you think is right! What is good for your fellow men... and women...
Gong Xi Fa Cai! Huat Ah!
Dr Huang Shoou Chyuan
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6 comments:
Good work, Dr Huang.
That was a great suggestion, and contribution to society.
Raymond Woo: Thanks.
In fact many Singaporeans do give good suggestions and it is up to enlightened administrators and politicians to find them and use them.
I give credit to CGH for daring to admit that they need to try new ways. There is a risk for trying new ways too- espy if they turn out not to work...But at least they have tried...
Dr Huang
I don't think the $50 discount will help. Patients with minor ailments visit the A&E out of convenience and mainly because the $100 fee is affordable and deemed to be value for money since it includes consultation, medications and tests. The only way to solve this problem is to increase the A&E fees to $300 or even higher. This will encourage those with minor ailments to visit a GP first.
Just a query for confirmation.
Those that go to GPs and are later refer to hospital; will they be disallowed to request for Classes B and C wards if they get hospitalized.
From what I know, patients refer to hospitals are charge at A Class Rate.
patriot
Patriot:
According to MOH website- if referred by GP to public hospital specialist clinic- patient becomes a non-subsidised ( paying) patient unless you are a CHAS ( Pioneer gen/ lower income) patient referred by CHAS GP
http://www.moh.gov.sg/content/moh_web/home/pressRoom/Current_Issues/2014/s-3ms-resources/specialist-outpatient-clinic--soc--subsidies.html
Patriot-
I think if they need admission they can choose to be subsidised class provided they do not need specific specialist ( consultant) to treat/operate on them.
Dr Huang
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