Get acquainted with benefits of day hospital care

SOUTH Africans are faced with the constant increases in the cost of living and an ailing economy, forcing consumers to cut down on spending across the board. For a small percentage of the population, health care costs are covered by medical aid, but only an estimated 16 percent of South Africans have such coverage while the rest rely on an already overburdened health care system.

Continuing downward pressure on the economy is pushing even those with medical cover to either reduce it, or outright terminate their membership just to make ends meet, leaving more and more South Africans vulnerable.

While there are several factors contributing to the increase in private health care costs, including the volatile exchange rate and its impact on the cost of importing medical equipment, the rising costs of medication, doctors’ fees, the increasing average age of principal members on the schemes, the biggest culprit is private hos- pital costs.

According to the Council for Medical Schemes’ 2014/15 report, hospital fees constitute the bulk of fees paid by medical schemes with total hospital expenditure amounting to 37.6 percent, of the R124.1 billion that medical schemes paid to all health care providers in 2014.

This was an 11.6 percent increase in expenditure on hospitals from the previous year and this trend has not abated.

Whether we like it or not, the reality is that health care costs in SA – especially private hospitals – have become too expensive. The compound hospital cost escalation of 15 percent per annum is unaffordable and is not sustainable in our health care environment.

But what most South Africans are not aware of is that there are options which can have a direct bearing on hospitalisation expenses.

Some 70 percent of surgical procedures, currently done in acute hospitals, can safely be performed in a day surgery facility.

Day hospitals across the world are transforming the surgical experience for millions of patients by providing them with a more convenient alternative to acute hospital based surgery, achieving the highest quality standards and positive patient experiences, with the upswing of cost effectiveness.

In South Africa, day hospitals offer significant opportunities to improve the efficiency of private hospitalisation.

Locally, only about 13 percent of all surgical procedures are attended to in day hospitals, an extremely low figure compared to the almost 70 percent international utilisation of day hospitals.

The potential to increase the use of day hospitals is significant, bringing clear benefits to both patients and medical schemes.

Several factors influence the cost model of day hospitals: no large catering facilities, no ICU or specialised theatre, no overnight beds to cater for and no after hour staff costs, no emergency unit and more reasonable per minute theatre fees compared to an acute facility.

Patients can get value for money and an increasing number of medical schemes are advocating day hospitals for same-day short-stay surgery.

We see synergy between day hospitals and acute facilities which should focus on ill, long-stay patients needing the care, support and necessary environment available at a large hospital facility.

We’ve moved on since the early 1980s where day case surgery was more focused on dental care and minor procedures.

These days any patient not requiring an overnight stay and is relatively healthy, can be operated on in a day hospital.

The evolution of health care has changed all this and in advanced health day hospitals, various disciplines are catered for, ranging from plastic surgery, gynaecological, general, orthopaedics, urology, maxillofacial surgery and a number of dental and ophthalmic procedures.

The case and benefits in favour of the model for admitting healthier patients in need of same-day surgery are evident.

Day hospitals across the world are transforming the surgical experience for millions of patients by providing them with a more convenient alternative to hospital based surgery, achieving the highest quality standards and positive patient experiences cost effectively. It’s time for South Africans to take advantage of the many benefits of this option.

In South Africa day hospitals offer significant opportunities to improve the efficiency of private hospitalisation. It’s time to take advantage.

PHOTO: DAVID RITCHIE Health care costs in South Aftica, especially private hospitals, have become too expensive, but there is an alternative, says the writer.