Latest news with #privateHospitals
South China Morning Post
09-05-2025
- Health
- South China Morning Post
Will private Hong Kong hospitals set high fee estimates to avoid explaining bill?
Hong Kong's private hospitals may provide higher fee estimates to avoid having to explain cost blowouts in patients' final bills under an official proposal aimed at improving price transparency, lawmakers have warned. Advertisement But Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau on Friday dismissed the concerns and said private operators would not want to scare away patients by setting very high price expectations. He also vowed to ensure penalties would act as effective deterrents under the legislative proposals targeting the private healthcare sector. The Health Bureau earlier this week put a range of measures to the Legislative Council for discussion, including a requirement for private hospitals to give price estimates and a written explanation to patients or their family members if the final bill for procedures was significantly higher, such as 20 per cent or more than the expected amount. But lawmakers raised doubts about how the government would ensure the rights of patients were protected. Advertisement 'Private hospitals might include potential stays in the intensive care unit in the fee estimates for operations that are a bit more complicated,' legislator Rebecca Chan Hoi-yan said.
South China Morning Post
08-05-2025
- Health
- South China Morning Post
How does Hong Kong plan to make private hospital fees more transparent?
Hong Kong's health authorities proposed a raft of measures to improve price transparency among private hospitals and clinics earlier this week, in a bid to attract more people to use their services and relieve pressure on the public sector. Advertisement The Post looks into why the government is taking a bolder approach to the local private healthcare sector. 1. What are the concerns about price transparency? The Consumer Council earlier criticised private hospitals for their lack of transparency when it came to pricing information and charging mechanisms, and published a study in March that looked into the problems faced by patients. The consumer watchdog also said that not all day procedure centres disclosed their prices online, and the information they did share was often not very comprehensive. The information provided by the private hospitals could also be difficult for ordinary consumers to understand, according to the council. Advertisement There were also discrepancies in prices for the same type of treatment in different private hospitals. For example, the bill for surgery for removing haemorrhoids varied from HK$33,881 (US$4,370) to HK$85,387.
