More Patients Give Financial Consent, Australia
April 27, 2007 – 3:11 pm | posted in Health InsuranceNew figures show medical specialists are better at obtaining informed financial consent from their patients before treatment for privately insured hospital services. However, there is still room for improvement.
All patients should be fully informed about any out-of-pocket expenses they are likely to incur.
The latest consumer survey, taken in November-December last year, measured the level of informed financial consent for privately insured patients. The survey showed a 20 per cent improvement since the same survey in 2004. However, in too many cases, people are still having procedures in hospital as private patients without having given informed financial consent beforehand.
The survey, carried out by Ipsos Australia, was distributed to 10,000 patients who had recently made a claim from their health fund for treatment as a private patient in a private or a public hospital. There were 4,596 respondents.
Three patient groups are relevant for the purposes of measuring IFC - those who didn’t have a gap to pay, those who had a gap to pay and consented in advance, and the key group, those who had a gap to pay which they were not told about in advance.
A key finding of the survey is improvement across all three groups of patients. In particular, the group which had a surprise gap fell from 21 per cent in 2004 to 16 per cent in 2006. This is a 20 per cent improvement in rates of IFC.
The survey also found that 58 per cent of people didn’t have a gap from their hospital treatment - a 2 per cent improvement from the 2004 survey. As well, 26 per cent had a gap to pay and consented in advance - up 3 per cent from 2004.
The Commonwealth Government urges medical specialists to obtain informed financial consent, in advance, preferably in writing, from all patients. This is particularly important when patients will face out-of-pocket expenses for their treatments. It is also important for health funds and hospitals to provide accurate information to consumers about out-of-pocket expenses.
The Government has funded the Australian Medical Association (AMA) to carry out an education campaign called ‘Let’s talk about fees’ to encourage doctors to obtain informed financial consent from their patients. The AMA launched the campaign last May.
The Government will continue to work with medical specialists, health insurance funds, hospitals and consumers to significantly improve rates of informed financial consent for treatment as a private patient.
The consumer survey will be repeated mid-year to measure further improvement in informed financial consent rates since the launch of the AMA’s education campaign.
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