Senate chair to grill NHSO over 60 bn‑baht debt
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- Dr Prapon Tangsrikiattikul will question the NHSO’s financial management during the Senate health committee’s policy debate on April 9‑10.
- Hospital system funds have shrunk from 80 billion baht to 20 billion baht, creating a 60 billion‑baht shortfall that mirrors hospitals’ unpaid debts to drug firms.
- NHSO’s Adjusted Relative Weight (AdjRW) payment formula reimburses hospitals only about half of their actual costs, driving cumulative losses.
- Innovative health services programme has spent over 3.7 billion baht on private clinics and pharmacies without earmarked additional funding.
- Dr Prapon Tangsrikiattikul urged greater transparency, a revision of AdjRW rates, and a restructuring of the NHSO’s two‑decade‑old management to reallocate existing resources.
Why it matters: Hospitals face a 60 billion‑baht shortfall that threatens the public health system; the Senate’s scrutiny of NHSO’s payment formula and unfinanced benefit programme forces a push for transparency and budget reallocation to keep the universal coverage scheme afloat, even as the 3.7 billion‑baht innovative health services programme continues to draw funds without earmarked financing.
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