Health

 

Is your GP contracted in to a medical scheme network?

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If GPs are contracted in to a medical scheme network, they might be pressurised to recommend cheaper treatment options and medications, say SA health bodies.

The Board of Healthcare Funders (BHF) and the IPA Foundation (IPAF) is extremely concerned at the comments made recently by the Health Professions Council of South Africa concerning Designated Service Providers (DSPs).

The HPCSA recently released a statement to the effect that healthcare practitioners should be cautious when concluding designated service provider (DSP) agreements with medical schemes as the medical schemes attempted to reduce costs by applying pressure on practitioners within a DSP network to prescribe medication or recommend treatment options, when other more appropriate, albeit more expensive, options were medically indicated and readily available.

Pushing healthcare costs down

In the current environment where there are no regulated tariffs for healthcare procedures,
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Malaria still kills so many due to fake drugs

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Malaria, a mosquito-borne parasitic infection that affects about 3.2 billion people in 95 countries, has become largely a disease of the young and poor.

Due to effective medications like chloroquine and artemisinins, malaria deaths dropped an estimated 60 percent worldwide between 2000 and 2015. The Americas and Africa saw the greatest improvements.

Still, 216 million new cases of malaria were reported in 2016, the latest data available. Most of them occurred in Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Ivory Coast and Mozambique. And of the 445,000 people who died from the infection, about 70 percent were children under the age of 5.

Looking for a affordable Medical Aid or Hospital Plan, just click here Medical Aid or just send your Name, surname, age and email address to 082 738 5586

If malaria is a curable disease with ef
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Rats feed on corpse in Nkonjeni District Hospital, KZN

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When Bonokuhle Khali died in Nkonjeni District Hospital in Zululand, nurses left his body in a dimly lit corner in the male ward where rats spent hours eating the flesh on his face.

As his body lay just metres from sick patients in the ward, the rodents scurried under and over the sheet that covered it, chewing on his nose and lips.
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Most affordable medical aid schemes and hospital plans in South-Africa for 2017

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The medical aid industry saw a massive shake-up in April as National Treasury introduced new regulations which will see a limit on the amount of gap cover and hospital cash-back policies you can claim, as well as the discontinuation of all primary healthcare policies.

This is was done in an effort to differentiate between “medical scheme products” and “health insurance”, both of which are regulated by separate Acts causing confusion in the medical arena.

The new regulations will now outlaw all primary healthcare policies from 1 April. According to legislation these are not seen as full medical schemes, instead providing limited medical service benefits, such as GP visits, basic dentistry and optometry, and some acute and chronic medication.

The new laws also stipulate that hospital cash-back plans are limited to paying their clients a maximum of R3,000 per day, or a total lump sum of R20,000 per year. Currently there are no limits in place for these pa
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Why opting out for a cheaper medical cover can cost you in the long run

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Medical cover is expensive, and getting more so every year. Unfortunately this could mean we opt for lower monthly premiums that could mean you aren’t covered in the event of an expensive procedure.

The South African Society of Anaesthesiologists (SASA) is advising South Africans to consider the multiple factors affecting cover when choosing access to medical care.

The SASA understands that healthcare is often hard to comprehend and expensive to access. As a result, the Society believes, many consumers choose their medical plans – including how much cover it offers and whether care is provided at public or private institutions – based on the principle of “what can I afford monthly”.

“The truth is, most people look at cutting their medical costs in an effort to reduce their household spend when they feel an economic pinch. This is a difficult decision, since we’d all like to have access to the best facilities and treatment with the least out of pock
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Public comment open soon for The National Health Insurance Bill of 2018

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The National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill of 2018 will be published in the Government Gazette shortly for public comment.

A key provision of the bill will be the establishment of an NHI fund to pay for health services so that all South Africans have access to quality care.

“The bill seeks to establish the NHI Fund of South Africa, as a public entity, so as to provide for a sustained universal health access that is affordable and of high quality. It also sets out its functions, powers and duties,” Cabinet said in a statement following its regular fortnightly meeting.

The bill provides a framework for the active purchasing of health care services by the fund on behalf of users and creates mechanisms for the equitable, effective and efficient use of the resources of the fund to meet the health needs of users.

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Government intends to to improve maternal and infant survival with new project

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FPD was granted funding by MSD Global to implement a project to improve maternal and infant survival by improving the quality of emergency care for pregnant mothers and/or new born babies during ambulance transit between health facilities.

The project purpose is to improve maternal and infant survival by improving the quality of emergency care to pregnant mothers and/or new born babies during ambulance transit between health facilities through a combination of expert technical advice, material development, and training designed to develop the competency of advanced, intermediate and basic life support workers employed by government obstetric EMS.

The intended outcome of the project is to reduce maternal mortality through provision of high quality, standardised care and management during inter-facility maternal transportation. The work has significant potential to have an immediate impact on maternal and perinatal deaths in South Africa and will directly contribut
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With winter around the corner, you need to know what flu really feels like !!!

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You’re sneezy, stuffed up, and feel bad all over. Is it a cold, or do you have the flu?

The symptoms can be a lot alike. But if you know the warning signs of the flu, you can get treatment quickly and work on feeling better, sooner.

What You Need to Know

Unlike a cold, flu symptoms usually come on suddenly. Another key difference is a fever, which might not happen with a cold. You might also have:

– Severe aches in muscles and joints
– Pain and tiredness around your eyes
– Weakness or extreme fatigue
– Warm, flushed skin and red, watery eyes
– A headache
– A dry cough
– A sore throat and runny nose

Adults with seasonal flu don’t usually vomit or have diarrhea, but children might.

Some symptoms can mean your illness is severe. Get immediate medical help if you have any of the following:
– Trouble breathing or shortness of breath
– Pain or pressure in your chest or belly
– Sudden
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Is Dr Aaron Motsoaledi fiddling while healthcare is burning?

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Despite the Life Esidimeni tragedy, non-existent oncology services in some provinces, striking healthcare workers and a damning quality standards report before parliament, Health Minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi seems to be labouring under the delusion that the South African public healthcare system is not collapsing.

Speaking at a media briefing, the minister said he was not aware of any scientific methods used to measure the veracity of the claims made about the breakdown of the health system.

“I am not here to challenge that because I do not know the yardstick that was used to arrive at a conclusion of collapse. Surely healthcare systems are measured on some form of scientific yardstick to arrive at any conclusion.”

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Have you factored in medical expenses into your retirement savings?

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People often believe that if you gather significant assets during your lifetime and put enough into your retirement or pension fund during your career, you don’t have to worry about living comfortably in your later years. But in an environment where medical costs are rising and markets are constantly fluctuating, is that really true?

Here’s a figure that might be surprising if you are planning to retire soon and haven’t considered your health care costs. If you are 65 and retiring this year, you will need about R990 000 during retirement to keep up the same cover you currently enjoy. For a couple, that total is about R1 990 000. (assuming you are on the Discovery Health Medical Scheme, on the Classic Delta Comprehensive Plan, a contribution of R4059 to your plan, and that your retirement grows in line with medical inflation- currently CPI +4%)

These numbers are based on the assumption that a man will live to be 85 and a woman 87, however with publications lik
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The case for a restricted medical scheme

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With the sustainability of medical schemes coming under increasing scrutiny, many companies may be left wondering whether offering restricted medical scheme membership to their employees is still a viable benefit.

Restricted membership medical schemes – those not open to the public and where membership eligibility is dependent on working in a certain industry sector, company, professional association or trade union – are gradually giving way to the larger open membership schemes that anyone can join.

That being said, restricted medical schemes have again achieved the highest scores in the Alexander Forbes Health Medical Schemes Sustainability Index released in January. SAMWUMED and Polmed (the top scorer for the third consecutive year), were once again top performers in the index.

It is evident that by pooling together certain individuals, restricted medical aids are able to better manage their risk exposures in some instances, collect premiums more easily f
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Western Cape Health Department: Tygerberg Hospital must ‘be shut down and replaced’

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The Western Cape’s biggest hospital is in such a dilapidated state that it will have to be shut down – and replaced.

This is what Parliament’s portfolio committee on health was told on Wednesday.

Head of the Western Cape Health Department, Beth Engelbrecht, told the committee the Hospital was in a dire state, its condition contributed to the billion-rand backlog in maintenance for provincial hospitals.

“Tygerberg Hospital is under severe pressure. The CSIR (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research) assessed it and said the hospital must be replaced. We have spent R700 million just on maintenance in recent years and you walk through the hospital and you can’t see it – it is sewerage lines, gas lines and water lines,” she said.

Engelbrecht said it would cost an estimated R10 billion to replace the hospital. She said the department was canvassing National Treasury for funding.

Tygerberg Hospital works in partnership with Stellenbosch Univers
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Manage your medical expenses during winter season to obtain optimal value

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To obtain optimal value from your medical scheme plan, it’s critical to fully understand the scope of benefits it offers and to manage those prudently.

To obtain optimal value from your medical scheme plan, it’s critical to fully understand the scope of benefits it offers and to manage those prudently. It’s an especially important consideration during the winter months. This is according to Dr James Arens, clinical operations executive at Pro Sano medical scheme.

Minor ailments like a recurrent common cold, for example, may not necessarily require repeated doctor visits that could potentially use up benefits that might be more appropriately used elsewhere.

Dr Arens points out that the economic climate in recent years has seen many South Africans downscaling on their lifestyles.

“This often means ‘buying down’ when it comes to medical scheme cover. It’s understandable that when money is scarce, people wish to pay as little as possible while sti
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Cosatu urges Ramaphosa to sack Motsoaledi – While you at it sack the rest of the incompetent ministers as well!

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Cosatu has called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to sack health minister Aaron Motsoaledi, arguing that he is directly responsible for the continued deterioration of the healthcare system in the country.

“People are losing their lives on a daily basis and this has reached crisis levels. What has disappointed Cosatu the most is Minister Motsoaledi’s denialism and scapegoating.”
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Desperately seeking: A viable healthcare payment system

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South Africa’s private healthcare sector is under severe pressure, particularly with rampant inflation tracking at rates higher than CPI, creating a system that will eventually, in the not too distant future, become unsustainable.
In fact, at the end of last year, most of the country’s medical aids announced double-digit premium increases for 2017.

“Issues that are blamed for the high cost increases include; advancement in medical technology, cost of importing medical technology, administrator fees, broker fees, supplier induced demand, member over use, aging profile of medical scheme and therefore higher claims ratios, increased rate of illness in populations, legislative changes, incentives in the system.
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