Value-based care could help South Africa improve private healthcare affordability before National Health Insurance (NHI) disputes are resolved, an industry commentary argues. The commentary urges medical schemes, funders and providers to redesign payment arrangements within existing frameworks. It contends that pooling funds under NHI will not control costs unless purchasing incentives also change. A larger purchaser paying for each service…
Tag: NHI
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Healthcare Consensus Initiative Seeks Common Ground
A healthcare consensus initiative aims to secure agreement on universal health coverage by year-end while coordinating action to improve failing services. Backed by President Cyril Ramaphosa, the independent, confidential process involves about 70 organisations and prominent individuals. The 18-month health consensus-building initiative (HCBI) brings together stakeholders divided over healthcare reform, including the National Health Insurance (NHI) Act. However, it offers…
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District Health Leadership: Tackling Fear in Frontline Care
District health leadership needs greater investment to help South Africa’s frontline managers improve care and prepare for National Health Insurance (NHI). According to Spotlight, researchers and health managers are testing approaches that replace punitive supervision with collaboration and trust. Their work addresses a persistent problem: facilities provide patient care, while provincial offices retain much financial and administrative authority. As a…
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Healthcare Worker Shortages Demand Bolder Leadership
South Africa’s healthcare worker shortages are arguably the country’s biggest healthcare story, yet government leaders have failed to tackle them, according to an editorial. It accompanies an investigation by journalist Sue Segar into unemployed doctors who protested for jobs in KwaZulu-Natal earlier this year. Unemployed doctors amid staff shortages According to the editorial, many of the protesting doctors are committed…
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Cardiovascular Disease Kills 225 South Africans a Day — Most Before 65
Cardiovascular disease claims about 225 South Africans every day through heart attacks and strokes, according to the Heart and Stroke Foundation South Africa. Together, the two account for almost one in six deaths. More than half strike before age 65 – often felling breadwinners, parents and caregivers in midlife. This World Heart Day, on 29 September, researchers point to one…
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NHI Advertising Contract Claims Referred to Investigators
The Health Department has referred inflated NHI advertising contract claims to the SIU, AGSA and Public Protector, rejecting them as misleading. The Health Department has referred allegations of inflated NHI advertising contracts to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), the Auditor-General South Africa (AGSA) and the Public Protector, insisting that independent investigators test claims of diverted funds. The department rejects the…
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NHLS Scrambles as Pathology Services Funding Runs Dry
The National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS), the backbone of South Africa’s public pathology system, is scrambling to secure new blood-testing providers. This follows the service running out of money for key pathology services. The contract covering small and medium haematology labs at several of the country’s largest hospitals has lapsed. Funds in a central purchasing arrangement ran dry. The affected…
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Thembisile Xulu Named New Health Director-General
South Africa has a new health Director-General. Last week, a cabinet statement confirmed the appointment of Dr Thembisile Xulu, the outgoing chief executive of the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC). She becomes the country’s sixth permanent health DG since 1994. Her appointment moves her from coordinating the national response to HIV, tuberculosis and sexually transmitted infections into the top…
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Gauteng Nurse Shortage Deepens, Threatening NHI Rollout
Gauteng’s public health system is losing at least 100 nurses a month, a haemorrhage that officials warn could undermine the rollout of National Health Insurance (NHI). The province, which has the country’s highest overall health spending and the most hospital beds, told the provincial legislature it needs at least R5.7bn to fill thousands of vacancies. The Gauteng nurse shortage now…
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Mandatory Medical Scheme Membership Could Lower Costs
Making mandatory medical scheme membership a requirement for everyone earning above the tax threshold could cut cover costs by up to 30%. This is according to research commissioned by the Health Funders Association (HFA). The findings appear in a report released yesterday. The HFA, which represents medical schemes and administrators covering roughly half the market, modelled two linked reforms: compulsory…
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Traditional Health Practitioners Set for NHI Role
According to Dr Joe Phaahla, Deputy Minister of Health, the government intends to include traditional health practitioners as it introduces National Health Insurance (NHI). He announced this during his speech at the African Traditional Medicine Commemorative Day in Mpumalanga. The commitment establishes a formal place for traditional medicine within South Africa’s universal health coverage schemes. It aligns the country with…
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Parmed Medical Aid Reform Bill Moves Through Parliament
The National Assembly is considering legislation that could end compulsory membership of the Parmed Medical Aid Scheme for MPs, judges and other public office-bearers. ActionSA MP Dr Kgosi Letlape introduced the private member’s bill. It proposes amending the Parliamentary and Provincial Medical Aid Scheme Act of 1975. Under the amendment, eligible officials would be allowed to remain with Parmed, move…