Economic

RESEARCH RELEVANT TO PRIVATE HEALTH AND HOSPITALS

Full costing on NHI

Econex, an applied economics research organisation, investigated a full costing and economic impact assessment of the proposed South African National Health Insurance (NHI) plan on behalf of the Hospital Association of South Africa (HASA). Dr. Nicola Theron supervised the study. Download the Financial Implications of a National Health Insurance Plan for South Africa.

Other NHI Notes

Key Features of the Current NHI Proposal

South Africa's Burden of Disease

What does the Demand for Healthcare look like in SA?

Supply Constraints

Rationing as a Response to Supply Side Constraints

Cancer and the NHI: Cost Constraints and Opportunities

Estimating the Financial Cost of the NHI Plan

The Role of Primary Healthcare in Health Reform

This research note forms part of a series of notes dealing with issues of health reform in South Africa. In the interest of constructively contributing to the NHI debate, the Hospital Association of South Africa (HASA) has commissioned this series of research notes. Read the Role of Primary Health.

 

 

Accreditation of Healthcare Providers 

This note is the first in a two-part series looking at the important issue of the accreditation of healthcare providers. It is generally understood in healthcare reform that accreditation serves in setting quality standards and uniformity in a health system. In the first note in the current series on healthcare reform some of the concerns with quality in South Africa’s public healthcare system were examined and it was suggested that a renewed focus on the effective delivery of primary healthcare services would be an appropriate first step on the road to healthcare reform. Download the note here.

Follow the link for an Overview of private hospitals and related statistics

Bed types:
Currently the sector is made up of the following bed types: medical, surgical; maternity; neonatal ICU; ICU; Specialised ICU; High Care; Paediatric; Psychiatric and Day Ward. (Description restricted to the private sector, as the State uses its own terminology)

Bed Type	Description
Medical bed	Treatment of diseases that do not require surgery e.g. diabetes, pneumonia, AIDS, meningitis etc.
Surgical bed	General surgery involves any kind of operation done by a general surgeon e.g. appendicectomy, varicose veins, removal of tumours, incision and drainage of abscesses etc.
Maternity & Obstetrics	Any procedure or treatment involving fertility or childbirth.
Neonatal ICU bed	Where neonates are incubated and ventilated with half-hourly observations.
ICU bed	A specialized unit where trauma and general surgery patients who are being ventilated are nurses on a l : 1 ratio.
Specialised ICU bed	ICU specializing in specific cases such as Cardiothoracic ICU, Vascular ICU or Neurosurgical ICU.  These patients are ventilated and nurses 1 : 1 with specialized equipment not found in general ICU.
High Care bed	A specialized unit where patients are nursed usually 1 nurse to 2 patients who require close monitoring, but are not ventilated.
Paediatric bed	Treatment of medical and surgical problems related to children under the age of 12 – 14.
Psychiatric bed	Treatment of mental health care users as defined within the Mental Health Care Act, 2002.
Gynaecology	Mostly surgical procedures involving female reproductive organs e.g. hysterectomy, D & C, abortions, fertility treatment etc.
Neonatal	The period immediately after the birth of a baby.
Neonatal High Care A	Where neonates are in an incubator on headbox oxygen. Hourly observations.
Neonatal High Care B	Where neonates are in an incubator with hourly observations.
Neonatal Ward	Neonates requiring no special care, except for tube or bottle feeding until the desired discharge weight is reached e.g. 2 kg.
Orthopaedics	Where surgery of the skeleton is done e.g. hip, knee and shoulder replacements.
Thoracic	Surgery of the chest e.g. lungs and oesophagus.
Cardiothoracic	Surgery of the heart.
Vascular	Surgery of the blood vessels e.g. veins and arteries.
Renal	Refers to surgery or medical care of the kidneys.
Urology	Surgery of the bladder and usually male genitalia involving the urinary system.

South Africa's private hospital industry is truly a national asset of which the country and its citizens can be justifiably proud. Standards of medicine and care are rated amongst the finest and most cost-effective in the world. Indeed, our private hospital industry is the envy of many other countries.