The cabinet has approved an additional budget of nearly 6 billion baht to compensate healthcare units under the universal healthcare scheme that have suffered significant losses due to rising costs.
Public Health Minister Somsak Thepsutin said on Wednesday the 5.92 billion baht allotted is technically required to be disbursed by the end of this fiscal year, Sept 30.
The funds have been diverted from the government's central budget for the fiscal year, he said.
The minister said about 1 billion baht would offset losses being shouldered by a number of hospitals whose costs of providing outpatient care to patients under the scheme were more than the actual amount of the capitation budget they received.
Mr Somsak said another 3 billion baht will be paid to various healthcare units to help fund services such as family clinics, dental clinics, and physical rehabilitation clinics.
The rest will be paid to those hospitals suffering losses due to a National Health Security Office (NHSO) board decision to lower the in-patient care reimbursement rate from 8,350 baht to 7,000 baht per time, he said.
According to a source, about 91 state-run hospitals under the universal healthcare scheme are on the verge of a severe financial crisis due to high losses following the NHSO's change in how it calculates healthcare reimbursement, especially the reimbursement rate for in-patient treatment.