The National Department of Health (NDoH) has published the 2009 draft NHRPL schedule for comment.
Please click here to view the draft schedule
NHRPL 2008
The NHRPL 2008 has been published by the National Department of Health in the
Government Gazette No. 30410 which comprises of four volumes.
After conducting an evaluation on the schedules, the Benefit & Risk department of
BHF has determined that a 5.4% CPIX increase has been awarded to all
disciplines.
The NHRPL are available on the NDOH website Department of Health
The Department of Health has notified BHF that, in view of the fact that the NHRPL for 2007 has not been published, the NHRPL for 2006 with an adjuster of 4.9% may be used for 2007.
The complete list of schedules (which include the 4.9% inflator) are available on the Council for Medical Schemes website.
Please click here to download the schedules
NHRPL for 2007
The Department of Health have announced in the press that the publication of the NHRPL for 2007 has been suspended and advised medical schemes to utilise the NHRPL for 2006 with an inflation adjustment.
BHF has engaged both the DoH and the CMS on this issue and it is expected that there will be a formal communication to schemes from the CMS in the near future which will include guidance on the way forward.
According to an article published in the Medical Chronicle, SAMA have advised their members and non-members “to use the tariffs published by the Health Professions Council (HPCSA) and the results of the practice cost studies as guidelines to establish what they could charge. Patients and doctors should discuss the tariff and on that basis the patient can decide whether he wants to see the doctor…”
This statement is of concern to BHF as the HPCSA’s ethical price list is, on average, 300% of the NHRPL. The methodology used by the HPCSA to arrive at its price list has also been brought into the spotlight by BHF as, in terms of legislation, these prices are meant to reflect the ‘norm’ that the professional boards will use in order to ascertain whether a health professional is charging excessively. BHF has engaged with the HPCSA to ascertain the methodology used but has, thus far, not received a satisfactory reply.
BHF’s preliminary analysis of claims data for the first half of 2006 indicates that specialist costs have risen by 20% for in-hospital and 30% for out of hospital, about 5 times higher than CPIX. These cost trends will have an impact on the REF community rate and undermine attempts through the Health Charter and the Low Income Medical Schemes initiative to bring about affordable and accessible private health cover.
In view of this, BHF has allocated significant resources to deal with these issues to ensure that members of medical schemes are not disadvantaged and that the vision of a unified health system, as encapsulated in the Health Charter, may be realised.
Please click on one of the following links to view further important information in this regard:
Department of Health Press Release regarding the NHRPL
SAMA's Press Release on NHRPL
BHF's response to SAMA's Press Release regarding the legality of the NHRPL
BHF's Press Release regarding the NHRPL