Social Security Office defends extra cash for hospitals

>> The Social Security Office (SSO) has stood by its practice of making additional payments to agency-registered hospitals, in addition to medical treatment fees.

The measure has been criticised by labour rights advocates, who said the Social Security Fund (SSF) is being misappropriated as the payment has nothing to do with medical treatment for people with health insurance.

Opponents include the Thai Labour Solidarity Committee (TLSC), which wrote to the SSO asking it to urgently amend the regulation.

SSO secretary-general Ananchai Uthaipattanacheep said the measure was aimed at boosting the service quality of hospitals for the benefit of patients, he said.

This can help ward off complaints about improper medical services being provided to subscribers, he said. According to Mr Ananchai, the additional payment is meant to scale up the level of satisfaction among insured people.

Subscribers’ satisfaction is also among the indicators to decide whether hospitals would get extra payment, he said. Labour Minister Adul Sangsingkeo said the measure was drawn up following complaints about hospitals that treated insured people.

The SSO’s intention is to make sure subscribers received the best treatment, he said. However, as complaints about the measure were filed, the SSO was instructed to provide an explanation, Pol Gen Adul said. Chalee Loysoong, deputy chairman of the TLSC, recently held a press briefing to oppose the practice.

He said it has been carried out since 2009 following an announcement that granted the disbursement of the SSF to hospitals in line with the Healthcare Accreditation (HA) criteria. Hospitals that reach the HA standard would be eligible to receive the additional payment.

The TLSC disagreed with the measure as the SSF has nothing to do with the treatment costs. The TLSC in 2014 brought the issue to the Administrative Court, which refused to accept it as the TLSC was not deemed to be the key damaged party. The TLSC later appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court, which accepted it for deliberation.

Following the court’s acceptance of the case, the SSO revoked the announcement and issued a new one, which was enforced on Jan 1. Mr Chalee said it has not jettisoned the practice of giving additional payments to hospitals.

He urged the SSO to return 8 billion to 9 billion baht in additional payments earlier given to hospitals to the fund.

The TLSC, he said, would petition the Office of the Auditor-General and National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) to look into the matter.