The Ministry of Health has just issued Circular No. 39/2024/TT-BYT amending and supplementing a number of articles of Circular No. 35/2016/TT-BYT dated September 28, 2016 of the Minister of Health promulgating the List and rates, payment conditions for medical technical services within the scope of benefits of health insurance participants.
According to Circular 39, the number of days of inpatient treatment is equal to the date of discharge minus (-) the date of admission plus (+) 1: applicable to the following cases:
Inpatients who die or get worse while receiving treatment and their families ask to return home or transfer to another medical facility;
Patients who have been treated through the emergency phase but still need continued inpatient treatment are transferred to another medical examination and treatment facility;
Number of inpatient days is equal to discharge date minus (-) admission date: applicable to remaining cases.
In case a patient is admitted and discharged on the same day (or admitted the day before and discharged the day after) with a treatment time of more than 4 hours but less than 24 hours, it is counted as 1 day of treatment.
In case a patient enters the Emergency Department, without going through the examination department, with an emergency or treatment time of 4 hours or less (including cases of discharge, admission, transfer, or death), the patient will be paid for the medical examination, medicine, medical equipment, and technical services, but will not be paid for the day of emergency resuscitation bed.
In case a patient is admitted and discharged from the hospital with a treatment time of 4 hours or less, the cost of medical examination, medicine, medical equipment and technical services that the patient has used will be paid, but the cost of inpatient bed days will not be calculated.
In case the patient is transferred to 2 departments on the same day, each department will only be counted as 1/2 day.
In case a patient is transferred from 3 departments or more on the same day, the service price for a hospital bed that day is calculated by averaging the hospital bed price at the department with the treatment time of more than 4 hours with the highest hospital bed price and the department with the treatment time of more than 4 hours with the lowest hospital bed price.
Price for shared hospital bed service day
Circular 39 clearly states that the price of hospital bed service is calculated as follows: Calculated 1 person/1 bed.
In case 2 people have to share a bed at the same time, only 1/2 of the corresponding bed day service price will be paid. In case 3 people or more have to share a bed, only 1/3 of the corresponding bed day service price will be paid.
In case the hospital changes the bed size according to the provisions of Clause 3, Article 67 of Decree No. 96/2023/ND-CP, the additional beds will be paid according to the price approved by the competent authority.
Regarding the price of a day of intensive care unit (ICU) bed service: Medical examination and treatment facilities with intensive care unit (ICU) beds in the specialized departments: Intensive care, Anti-poison, Intensive care - Anti-poison, Emergency - Intensive care - Anti-poison must fully meet the conditions for operation according to Decision No. 01/2008/QD-BYT of the Minister of Health and Circular No. 03/2023/TT-BYT of the Minister of Health guiding job positions, norms of the number of employees, and staff structure according to professional titles in public health service units.
Specialized departments of medical examination and treatment facilities must arrange for intensive care unit (ICU) beds or post-operative beds for special surgeries that meet the requirements on facilities, equipment, and human resources specified in the Regulations on Emergency, Intensive Care, and Anti-Poisoning issued together with Decision No. 01/2008/QD-BYT and Circular No. 03/2023/TT-BYT;
Patients in the beds specified in points a and b of this clause with diseases must be cared for, treated and monitored according to the regulations on emergency, intensive care and anti-poisoning. In other cases, only the daily service price for emergency resuscitation beds and other types of beds shall be applied according to the price prescribed by competent authorities.
For clinical treatment departments with emergency resuscitation beds: apply the price of emergency resuscitation bed day service according to the price prescribed by competent authorities.
For example, the Pediatrics Department has pediatric intensive care beds, neonatal units or special care for premature infants.
In case of one surgery but classified differently according to specialties (except Pediatrics): apply the service price for surgical and burn bed day according to the lowest surgical classification.
Surgeries not classified as surgery: apply the service price of a type 4 surgical bed day of the corresponding hospital.
