Private Hospitals Exploit Medical Camps to Boost Patient Numbers and Profits: Report
Following the death of four patients in Bodakdev’s Khyati hospital in Ahmedabad, allegedly from unnecessary angioplasties, the practice of private hospitals setting up medical camps to get more patients has come to light.
According to a Times of India report, the average occupancy in most hospital groups is roughly around 60-70 percent. To increase the numbers, the marketing departments monitor what percentage of camp attendance gets converted to inpatients. Further planning goes into how many camps or outreach clinics are required to be organised in which locations and of what specialities.
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While the medical camps are labelled as charitable or corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, the camps work with the main goal to push up occupancy.
Organised within areas where the hospitals are located and in other states, some known as “catchment areas,” like West Bengal and those in the North East, these medical camps sometimes collaborate with local health facilities, their own agents, or diagnostic setups to provide logistical support.
A doctor who wished to remain anonymous told the Times of India that multiple hospital chains organise camps in the Andamans every week despite the small population. These hospitals bring in superspecialists who offer consultations and refer patients to the main hospital or further procedures.
“They aggressively target patients with heart, and bone and joint issues. A lot of valve replacement, stenting and knee replacements are being advised. Neurology and urology camps are also popular,” told the doctor, as quoted by TOI.
Camps are advertised as an opportunity for consultation with ‘distinguished doctors’ to provide “world-class healthcare” by providing comprehensive health evaluations to offer personalised treatment plans. This is especially common in places with inadequate tertiary care facilities.
By offering free health check-ups and some free medicines or consultations, these medical camps lure patients who otherwise wouldn’t visit their hospitals and those who cannot afford to make frequent trips to the hospital. The result is often the patients complaining of poor follow-up.
Since the marketing departments have access to the database of patients who attended the camp and their diagnosis, they follow up with reminders through emails, calls, and messages. They then modify the offer if the patients seem unsure. Free priority appointments with senior doctors, offering discounts, and providing pick-up and drop facilities are some of the common techniques to ensure an increase in extraction from campus.
A 15-20 percent conversion to inpatients is considered decent.
“It is definitely about building business, but in the guise of expanding tertiary care services to underserved areas, the hospitals are exploiting an untapped market which also happens to be vulnerable. Private sector is also leveraging the gap in public provisioning via models where they can operate unrestrained and without any oversight,” TOI quoted Malini Aisola of the Campaign for Dignified and Affordable Healthcare, a patient advocacy group, as saying.
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Some medical camps provide free registration but have consultation charges. In the name of detecting health problems early, they conduct tests to check blood sugar, ECG, haemoglobin, and blood pressure checks, BMI measurement, etc., and several patients are referred for “specialised treatment or surgery.” The latter ends up costing several thousand to a few lakh rupees to the main hospital.
“There is no external audit of these procedures being recommended on whether the procedures were necessary or appropriate,” stated a doctor working at a corporate hospital.
