THE Competition Commission’s Health Market Inquiry on Thursday pushed private hospital Life Healthcare to explain why it did not publish data on the quality of the care provided in its facilities, picking up on an issue raised in earlier submissions.
The inquiry was established to investigate prices in the private healthcare sector and determine if there were barriers to competition and access to services.
Patients in many developed countries already have access to objective data on the quality of healthcare services, helping them decide which facilities to use. In the UK for example, the National Health Service publishes details of consultants’ mortality rates and indicates whether they are within an acceptable range, and the Quality Care Commission rates hospitals. However, there have been limited efforts to do this in SA.
Discovery Health, SA’s largest medical scheme administrator, launched a ranking system for private hospitals last year, based on patient satisfaction surveys, but it has yet to publish data on clinical outcomes such as the rate of hospital-acquired infections.
Life Healthcare’s executive for strategy, business analytics and investor relations, Adam Pyle, told the inquiry one of the main obstacles to publishing data on hospital quality was the fact that its rivals did not do so, and the group was wary of "publishing in a vacuum".
Life Healthcare is one of the three dominant private hospital groups, competing with Mediclinic International and Netcare. There was no agreement among them on the data to measure, he said.
Mr Pyle said were also challenges in providing consumers with information that allowed them to make informed decisions, and ensuring that hospitals were rated fairly.
He committed to raising the issue with Life Healthcare’s executive board, as well as the Hospital Association of SA, the main industry body for private hospitals.
Picture: FINANCIAL MAIL
THE Competition Commission’s Health Market Inquiry on Thursday pushed private hospital Life Healthcare to explain why it did not publish data on the quality of the care provided in its facilities, picking up on an issue raised in earlier submissions.
The inquiry was established to investigate prices in the private healthcare sector and determine if there were barriers to competition and access to services.
Patients in many developed countries already have access to objective data on the quality of healthcare services, helping them decide which facilities to use. In the UK for example, the National Health Service publishes details of consultants’ mortality rates and indicates whether they are within an acceptable range, and the Quality Care Commission rates hospitals. However, there have been limited efforts to do this in SA.
Discovery Health, SA’s largest medical scheme administrator, launched a ranking system for private hospitals last year, based on patient satisfaction surveys, but it has yet to publish data on clinical outcomes such as the rate of hospital-acquired infections.
Life Healthcare’s executive for strategy, business analytics and investor relations, Adam Pyle, told the inquiry one of the main obstacles to publishing data on hospital quality was the fact that its rivals did not do so, and the group was wary of "publishing in a vacuum".
Life Healthcare is one of the three dominant private hospital groups, competing with Mediclinic International and Netcare. There was no agreement among them on the data to measure, he said.
Mr Pyle said were also challenges in providing consumers with information that allowed them to make informed decisions, and ensuring that hospitals were rated fairly.
He committed to raising the issue with Life Healthcare’s executive board, as well as the Hospital Association of SA, the main industry body for private hospitals.
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