Medical concierges under fire for fee practices

Singapore

EVEN as some third party administrators (TPAs) come under fire from a number of doctors who are upset with their fee practices, medical concierges' charges have also been called into question by some healthcare players.

Medical concierges, as the name implies, link up local or overseas patients with doctors and public and private hospitals here. They provide services that range from recommending doctors and specialists to medical tourists or local patients, to booking accommodation or even delivering medication, among other things.

At the heart of the issue is how medical concierges, like TPAs, compute their charges. Doctors and insurers told The Business Times that medical concierges' fees are typically calculated as a percentage of the medical bill and that there are those who charge up to 25 per cent of a doctor's fee.

The issue, they said, becomes tricky when it involves locals with Integrated Shield Plans (IPs) and IP riders that covers medical claims on an as-charged basis.

The way these fees are computed have upset some IP insurers who are facing escalating claims costs that have chipped away their IP profit margins over the years.

In August, BT had reported that rising medical costs and higher consumption of medical services have continued to erode the profits of some IP insurers, with three out of five incurring underwriting losses in 2015.

Having said that, some insurers acknowledged that medical concierges' businesses would not be sustainable in the long-term if they impose a flat fee.

Doctor Ho Choon Kiat noted that medical concierges do offer value to medical tourists who may not be familiar with the healthcare scene here.

Despite this, he said there is the chance that the clients are not brought to the best doctor or best hospital for the job, but rather, to the doctor or hospital willing to pay the medical concierge's fees, which goes against patient's interest.

"Many agents of medical concierges ask to be paid in cash, especially those who deal with individual doctors. Can this be construed as corruption? If so, this practice may hurt the image of Singapore as corruption-free. Hence, I think such medical concierges should be regulated, thus forcing the whole process, and especially the payments to be transparent."

READ MORE: Doctors in uproar over third party administrators' charges