Emergency ward fees could double as officials look to reduce hospital overcrowding during flu season

Hospital Authority chief says the fee should be raised to HK$200

Patients using emergency services at public hospitals could be asked to pay HK$200 – double the current fee – under a plan being considered by the Hospital Authority to address overcrowding caused by flu.

It would be the first increase since the authority began charging for services in 2002. The HK$100 charge introduced then has not changed in 14 years.

The plan came after an unprecedented surge in demand for treatment through winter, during which flu pushed the number of daily visits well above the average of around 6,000 to an alarming height of 7,000.

A series of price adjustments is also part of a regular review by the public health care provider – including charges for medicine and private wards services – which will be submitted to the Food and Health Bureau for consideration by the end of this year.

“We are, to some extent, overloaded because there were some patients who really did not need to go to A&E,” the authority’s chairman, Professor John Leong Chi-yan, said.

“I think it would be not unreasonable to think about increasing the A&E service fee to $200.”

He added that the measure would also free up capacity to cope with the rising burden of the city’s ageing population. But Leong admitted the mooted increase was politically sensitive.

A high-ranking source from the authority said the rise wasn’t likely to happen this year, but that public discussion on the plan should start as early as possible.

Each A&E visit cost the authority HK$1,010 last year, official figures showed.

The annual number of people visiting A&E fell by more than a fifth, from 2.3 million to 1.8 million, after the introduction of the emergency fee at HK$100 in 2002.

No payment was required before that.

But the annual number of visits climbed back up to 2.2 million last year.

Patients’ Voices vice-chairman Tsang Kin-ping questioned the efficacy of the rise, and urged the authority to show the public some data on how many visits it expected to reduce.

The overcrowding problem at public hospitals could be eased if more private hospitals offered emergency services, said chief hospital manager and medical director of Union Hospital Dr Anthony Lee Kai-yiu, who called for more incentives from the government, including providing more land.

The A&E unit in private Union Hospital in Sha Tin charges HK$250 during office hours and HK$700 for night time and public holidays.

Lee said the emergency department was losing money despite higher charges, but it was worthwhile to maintain the service because the hospital saw an increased amount of in-patients.

Meanwhile, the two university hospitals, Queen Mary and Prince of Wales hospitals, could be asked to offer round-the-clock rapid flu test services for all public hospitals after two children reportedly died of flu-related complications this month.

They were said to be deprived of a timely flu test and medication at public hospitals during the night time.

(SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST)