COMPETITION BARRIERS
Inquiry may call for body to track private healthcare quality
Patients and medical schemes can shop around but have limited scope to compare the quality of care
The Competition Commission’s healthcare market inquiry is considering recommending that an independent body is established to monitor the quality of private healthcare services. Patients and medical schemes can shop around for the cheapest doctor or hospital, but have limited scope to compare the quality of care on offer. The inquiry was established to determine whether there are barriers to effective competition in the private healthcare market, and it is due to release its interim report and recommendations by the end of November. "It has become apparent to the inquiry ... that the availability of relevant, timely and validated information on provider performance and clinical outcomes of care ... is poor. Information, if publicly available at all, is sporadic, incomplete, not standardised and largely irrelevant for choosing the best value of care," it said in a discussion document released this week. Patients in many developed countries have access to objective data on the quality...
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