Chronicle Editor
Thandeka Moyo-Ndlovu, Health Reporter
THE Health Professions Authority of Zimbabwe (HPAZ) says it will soon conduct fees schedules and patient billing swoop inspections to protect members of the public from inaccurate and exorbitant charges by health institutions.
Members of the public have been subjected to unjustified charges while seeking health care services from both private and public institutions.
In a statement, HPAZ urged all private hospitals to submit their fees structures to the Authority by Thursday ( 25 March 2021).
The authority is the apex health regulatory body in Zimbabwe whose mandate is to co-ordinate the functions and operations of all health professional councils in Zimbabwe.
Part of its roles is to entertain appeals that relate to the same councils while also inspecting, registering and regulating all health service providing institutions.
“It came to the attention of the authority that some of the fees that are being charged by some private hospitals and other health institutions in general are exorbitantly too high. Some health institutions have no proper systems or controls in place to check and review bills charged to patients, with numerous inaccuracies being passed to patients in the form of high charges,” said HPAZ.
“The Authority would like to look into this matter by reviewing the fee structures of these health institutions. We would like to start with private hospitals and then move to all the other health institutions.”
HPZ said all private hospitals should submit their fees structures to the authority by Thursday this week.
“Subsequent to this, the authority will carry out a swoop operation through inspections to ascertain the justification of the submitted fees and how they are billed to patients.” — thamamoe
Online Reporter