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'We have to control medics' fees despite court'

SowetanLive
25 Aug 2010 | Zinhle Mapumulo |

THE Department of Health is set to create some kind of price guide that will regulate how much doctors charge for their services despite having lost the battle in court last month.
 
For the past three years the department has been at loggerheads with doctors' unions and other stakeholders in the private health sector over the publishing of the reference price list (RPL).

The list was published in 2007 and was aimed at regulating how much doctors should charge.

Soon after it was published, the South African Medical Doctors Association challenged the RPL process saying there was no proper consultation, thus resulting in the price guide being "too low".

Since then the department has been in and out of court trying to prove that it had done the right thing by publishing the list, and that it had consulted all the relevant stakeholders before publishing it.

However, the Johannesburg high court ruled that Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi did not consult with the National Health Council (NHC) regarding the pricing process. The court also found that the department could not provide concrete proof of consultation with the NHC. The process of publishing the RPL was therefore found to be unlawful.

Dr Anban Pillay of the Department of Health, however, insists that doctors need to be regulated in terms of how much they charge for their services.

"Even though the court ruled against us, the judgment did not challenge the minister's and the director- general's powers to publish the RPL. We need to find some sort of solution to this issue. An immediate one would be to price-guide the industry given the absence of the RPL," said Pillay.

"Medium-term solution would obviously be the introduction of legislation that establishes revised reference price, or alternatively the establishment of a body in law that would allow funders and providers to negotiate reimbursement prices," Pillay said.