Vietnam: Instructions for effecting medical examination prices outside of the scope of coverage by the health insurance

According to new regulations of Circular No. 37/2018/TT-BYT of the Ministry of Health of Vietnam, in certain cases, the number of times of use of and prices of medical examination services shall be determined as follows:

- If a patient comes to an outpatient department to receive his/her health check-up and then is advised to be hospitalized for inpatient treatment services to meet medical requirements, payment of medical examination fees shall be subject to provisions laid down in clause 2 Article 5 of this Circular.

- With respect to healthcare establishments having specialized exam rooms in clinical departments, if a patient registers at outpatient departments and receives medical examination at these specialized exam rooms, he/she shall be considered as using medical examination services provided by outpatient departments.

- t the same time of use of medical examination services at a healthcare establishment (maybe on the same day or for objective reasons or subject to medical requirements, medical examination services have not yet been finished in the first day and must be continued in the next day), if a patient needs to come to another department after visiting the first department, the price of the second or later time of use of medical examination services shall be 30% of the price of the single time of use of medical examination services and the maximum amount of payment of medical examination costs shall not be 2 times greater than the price of the single time of use of medical examination services.

- If a patient visits a healthcare establishment where he/she has used medical examination services and received medicines, but then finds abnormal signs and immediately returns to that healthcare establishment within the same day to check his/her health again, this use of medical examination services shall be considered as the second or later time of use of medical examination services within the same day.

View more details at Circular No. 37/2018/TT-BYT of the Ministry of Health of Vietnam, effective from January 15, 2019.

- Thanh Lam -

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