Private providers must be stopped from skimming off easy cases

doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7493.691-a

BMJ 2005;330:691 (26 March), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7493.691-a

News roundup

Private providers must be stopped from skimming off easy cases

London Rebecca Coombes

The UK government needs to act urgently to stop private providers of NHS services �cream-skimming� the less difficult cases, MPs warned this week.

The House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee, in a report of its inquiry into choice in public services, said government plans to bring private companies to heel were so far �sketchy and inadequate.�

The concerns are about reforms due in December 2005 (although schemes are already in operation on a smaller scale), when all patients will be given a choice of hospital for elective treatment. The choice may include non-NHS facilities. Under the new funding system for acute hospital trusts, called payment by results, the NHS loses money if patients opt to go elsewhere. The new system lays down a fixed tariff for every operation, so a hospital cannot increase its income from primary care trusts by putting up its prices, and it . . . [Full text of this article]

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