38 hospitals starts sharing medical test results

Thứ Năm, 03/08/2017, 15:28

PSNews – 38 Vietnamese central-level hospitals from August 1 started implementing medical test results. The move is expected to help save much money and time for patients and improve the business effectiveness for the hospitals.

Under the project, the 38 hospitals recognize and share with one another patients’ medical exam results. That means one of the 38 hospitals will not need to conduct medical tests on a patient if another within the 38 hospitals has already had results of the medical tests of the patient.

38 Vietnamese central-level hospitals from August 1 started implementing medical test results.

The new policy is highly appreciated by the public as it can ensure the quality of health care and protect the rights of patients in the context that a number of health facilities abuse medical tests to make profits, leaving large burdens to patients and the medical insurance fund.

According to Mr. Luong Ngoc Khue, Director of the Department of Medical Service Administration, as there are currently 50 ISO-15189 compliant medical laboratories in 40 central-level and provincial-level hospitals, the Ministry of Health will start the mutual recognition plan for three types of tests: biochemistry, hematology and microbiology.

This is the basis for hospitals to recognize and use each other's test results. When the test results are reliable, re-testing will waste time and money of the patient and the hospital.

The Ministry of Health also said that it has made preparation for the sharing system of medical test results for 10 years before implementing the project in the reality on a national scale. In fact, the 38 hospitals have equivalent machinery and technology so medical tests conducted by different hospitals may still have similar results.

According to Mr. Luong Ngoc Khue, that is also reason that the Ministry of Health currently only allows 38 hospitals to share their medical test results.

The Ministry of Health also said that a general review on the project will be held to consider expanding the project to all hospitals in the country.

Statistics from the ministry show the country now has 38 central-level hospitals under the health ministry, 492 provincial-level hospitals, 629 district-level hospitals and over 30,000 private health clinics

Hospitals nationwide perform approximately 250 million bio-chemical tests, more than 200 million blood tests, and 25 million micro-bio tests each year. The numbers increase 10% annually, creating a burden for patients and health insurance funds. Tests account for 16% to 20% of medical costs in Vietnam.

Sharing medical test results between hospitals which will be implemented by 2020 will significantly reduce this cost. Nguyen Trong Khoa is Deputy Director of the Medical Service Administration of the Ministry of Health: “By saving just 1% of test costs which is 50,000 VND per test we can save 375 billion VND per year. Sharing test results will be implemented in special and 1st class hospitals by 2018 and all hospitals nationwide by 2020.”

By Phung Nguyen