Special addition of medical fees paid to hospitals when critically ill patients with the new corona are treated in the ICU = intensive care unit.
As a general rule, payment is only made for up to 14 days, but it was found that there were a number of cases in which patients could not leave the ICU during that period and were not added.
Hospitals are requesting a review according to the actual situation, saying that "the burden on management will limit the number of hospitals that can see corona patients."
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare will add a special medical fee for up to 14 days per patient as a "specific intensive care unit management fee" for hospitals that accept critically ill patients with the new type of corona who need treatment at ICU. I am.
However, at the Osaka University Children's Surveillance Hospital in Suita City, Osaka, 15 of the 48 critically ill patients accepted by the end of last month, more than 30%, needed treatment in the ICU beyond the maximum number of days to be added. That is.
The average length of hospital stay is 18 days.
According to the hospital, especially elderly patients do not recover even if they become negative, and they are often treated with ICU as it is.
According to the hospital, if it is calculated that the medical treatment fee is added for the number of days actually hospitalized, the additional fee will be about 110 million yen in total.
Yuichiro Toki, director of Osaka University Children's Surgical Hospital, said, "The longer the period, the burden on the hospital's management, and if we do not pay attention to it, the number of hospitals that can see corona patients will be limited. Understand the characteristics of patients. I want you to design the system, "and we are requesting a review according to the actual situation.
Hospitalization for up to 141 days
According to the Osaka University Children's Surveillance Hospital, the longest hospital stay for new corona patients in the ICU has been 141 days as of the end of last month.
The patient was in his 60s and had a chronic illness, and his respiratory symptoms did not improve and he could not remove the ventilator, so even if he became negative, he needed to be treated in the ICU. That is.
Since this patient was treated with an artificial heart-lung machine = ECMO, the upper limit of the addition was 35 days as a special case, but after that, even if treatment with ICU was performed, it was not added.
According to the hospital, the special addition of medical fees actually paid was about 15 million yen, but if 141 days of treatment with ICU were added, it would be calculated that about 38 million yen would be obtained. It means that it will be.
Regarding this, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said, "It is necessary to have a careful discussion to uniformly eliminate the maximum number of days for addition. On the other hand, we are aware of the situation in the field where treatment is prolonged, so the system is in reality. I would like to consider how to make it. "