healthcare
The health insurance funds have received dozens of complaints about hospitals that deliberately schedule scans outside office hours so that they can charge supplements.
The problem is an unpleasant side effect of a measure taken by Minister of Health Frank Vandenbroucke (Vooruit). He decided in December of last year to ban supplements for heavy medical imaging. After all, such a supplement is not reimbursed, which means that the cost for the patient can increase significantly. But hospitals may still charge supplements if the scan is taken outside office hours and is not medically urgent. Result: some patients are scheduled outside office hours without knowing it. Often under the pretext that they would otherwise have to wait a long time for their scan.
Both the socialist health insurance fund Solidaris and the Christian Mutualities received dozens of complaints about this. “That is why we have sent a letter to hospitals with all health insurance funds to draw their attention to the new legislation, which we believe is not being complied with equally well by all hospitals,” says CM CEO Luc Van Gorp. The health insurance funds added a template to the letter that the doctor can complete together with the patient to properly inform him about all care options.
Vandenbroucke has also already come to the attention of Vandenbroucke. “Patients are told that they now have to wait a long time for a scan because of the ban on supplements. That is the world turned upside down.” He tried to prevent abuse by imposing that a scan outside office hours can only be done at the patient’s request. Hospitals must also properly inform their patients about the financial consequences.
Margot Cloet of Zorgnet-Icuro says she is in favor of scrapping the supplements. “But this must be part of a broad hospital reform.” It is a frequently heard criticism that Vandenbroucke first tackled the supplements without solving the broader financing issue.
