On September 24, a source from Lao Dong Newspaper confirmed that the Central Highlands General Hospital is coordinating with relevant units to review and decide to recover the proposed costs for payment that are not in accordance with regulations for cases of kidney stone surgery while the machine is broken.
The hospital is coordinating with the provincial Social Insurance agency to settle the payment for medical examination and treatment costs for health insurance related to the technique of "Inner-stomach gas detection" ( compressed air, ultrasound, laser).
Including borrowing a laser stone cutting machine from another unit while sending the machine for repair without ensuring administrative procedures.
It is worth mentioning that although the hospital leaders and higher-level agencies have regularly inspected and examined (based on the decision of the Social Insurance agency, Ministry of Health on medical examination and treatment), this serious incident still occurs.
Regarding the incident, Mr. Tran Manh Toan - Director of Dak Lak Provincial Social Insurance - said: "The Social Insurance Agency has received an official dispatch from the Central Highlands General Hospital announcing the incorrect price for the technical service of endoscopy of urethral stone collection.
There are more than 200 medical records of subjects with health insurance cards, with the insurance payment amount of about 270 million VND".
According to Mr. Toan, the unit will wait for the conclusions of the authorities and proactively coordinate with the Department of Health to inspect, review and recover the proposed costs for payment that are not in accordance with regulations for technical services related to laser stone cutting machines.
According to research, when performing kidney stone surgery with a laser machine at the Central Highlands General Hospital, the patient will spend 1,303,000 VND/sertion. This amount includes expenses for equipment wear, procedures, electricity and water).
In this case, if insurance is paid, patients will be supported to pay 80% of the cost for each treatment. The remaining amount was paid by the patient. There are some cases of retirement, policy... who are entitled to 100%.
The above expenditure is not included in the cost of hospital beds, medicine, meals, etc., all of which must be paid by the patient.
If insurance is not paid, patients will fully cover all treatment costs, which will result in additional costs.
As Lao Dong reported, the initial investigation determined that from March 28, 2024 to May 15, 2024 and from May 28, 2024 to December 31, 2024, at the Central Highlands General Hospital, the laser stone cantilever was damaged and could not be used.
However, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Hoang - Head of the Department of Nephrology - Urology; Mr. Bui Ngoc Duc - Head of the Department of Surgery - Anesthesia and Resuscitation of the Central Highlands General Hospital still perform the stone endoscopy procedure contrary to the procedure.
Recorded over 255 medical records that have performed laser techniques.
Of which, 235 dossiers under the Health Insurance category were paid nearly 274 million VND by Dak Lak Provincial Social Insurance. The patient paid more than 33 million VND.
The remaining 20 documents were not covered by insurance, and the patient paid nearly 26 million VND. The hospital has paid more than 60 million VND for surgical and procedures according to 255 records.
Both Mr. Hoang and Mr. Duc have been prosecuted and temporarily detained by the authorities to serve the investigation and clarify the above incident.
