Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi</span>President Cyril Ramaphosa indicated in his State of the Nation Address (Sona) last week that in 2019 government will take a significant step towards universal health coverage that will bring quality healthcare to all South Africans.
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There has been a lot of hype around the proposed National Health Insurance Bill, 2018 (NHI Bill) and the numerous implications for South African citizens. Little has been said, however, about how the NHI Bill will impact on the provision of medical aid benefits in the employee context.
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Over 80% of South Africans rely on state facilities like Chris Hani Baragwanath, the third largest hospital in the world. Shutterstock</span>The release of a final report about the state of competition in South Africa’s private health sector has been delayed again. It was compiled by an inquiry panel made up of medical, legal and economic experts. The panel heard submissions from a range of stakeholders including members of the public, civil society organisations as well as private hospital groups.
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Lamees Scholtz, head of PCNS</span>The Board of Healthcare Funders of Southern Africa (BHF) has rebranded its practice code numbering system (PCNS) to bring greater transparency and alignment between healthcare service providers (HSP) and medical schemes.
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Dr Paula Armstrong, senior economist at Econex</span>Policy certainty is necessary for sustainable investment in a sector. Currently, there is considerable policy uncertainty in the health sector in SA, mainly due to three parallel policy processes – the Health Market inquiry (HMI) Provisional Findings and Recommendations Report, the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill (the June 2018 version and the expected further version) and the Medical Schemes Amendment Bill (MSAB).
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©alexlmx [[www.123rf.com 123rf.com]]</span>The cost of healthcare, inadequate benefits and failing public healthcare facilities were very much in the news in 2018 and are likely to continue to feature strongly in headlines in 2019 as South Africa finds its way towards universal health coverage.
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We’ve compiled our annual #BestofBiz 2018 lists across all our industries featuring our most popular articles, most-read contributors and brand press offices with the most views. Discover the most read content on Bizcommunity’s Healthcare site over the past year below.
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MediFin Financial Services has again awarded their most loyal partners. These prestigious awards recognise their top partners who display great customer service, strategic alliance and top affiliate behaviour. The Top Loyalty Awards were introduced in 2017 and has grown from 500 contenders in the previous year to over 800 contenders in 2018, an increase of 60%. The period 1 January to 31 October was used to establish the winners.
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©catalin205 [[www.123rf.com 123rf.com]]</span>Poor collaboration at the right level, the lack of accountability and no proactive participation were identified as some of the stumbling blocks in the fight against malfeasance in the healthcare industry.
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[[www.123rf.com 123rf.com]]</span>Last year, medical aids lost at least R15-R20bn of total private healthcare industry spend to fraud, with the Board of Healthcare Funders of Southern Africa (BHF) reporting about 10 to 15% of all claims as fraudulent, abusive or wasteful. Approximately 3 to 4% of the R160-billion medical industry is pure fraud. The instances of medical fraud can be reduced, but it will take fundamental shifts in a number of areas, including the way medical schemes are structured and the efficiency of state health care.
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