Minister for Health James Reilly has said it is “extraordinary” that the Irish public accepts in a “blasé fashion” medical inflation that runs way ahead of the cost of living.
Dr Reilly said he has ordered a review of the fee schedule that the VHI pays doctors and hospitals for procedures.
“I want to know why we pay what we pay for each procedure and what it is based on. I don’t believe we have been getting value for money,” he said on the fringes of the MacGill summer school where he announced that all public hospitals have been ordered to ensure that no patient is on a waiting list for more than 12 months.
VHI hikes its premiums every January usually citing medical inflation for its decision. Rival insurer Aviva has confirmed that it is going to increase the cost of its premiums by 9.5 per cent in September.
Referring to the 9 per cent increase in VHI payments, Dr Reilly said he could not accept such increases when “everybody else is in deflation”.
Dr Reilly said he wants the VHI to justify its fee schedule on a unitary basis in a similar way that a quantity surveyor or a cost accountant would do. He also signalled his willingness to tackle consultants pay saying that the issue was “very much under review” by the cabinet.
The issues of consultants working only Monday to Fridays with no routine work or discharges done on Saturday or Sunday was now being reviewed, he told RTÉ on the fringes of the summer school last night.
He also said he wanted to create a career path for non-consultant hospital doctors “on a much lower pay grade”.
Dr Reilly revealed that a close examination of hospital waiting lists in January have shown that it is not down to increasing admissions during the winter months.
He said hospital admissions were no greater in February, March and April. He speculated that the real reason was a “disorderly return to work” by hospital staff after the Christmas break and the belief that it was a good time of the year to cancel elective surgery.
He promised to “drill down” and find out more information about it.
