Hospitals are fleecing patients, shows report

Indians, on an average, spend $236 (Rs12,036) per day of hospital stay, says a report by International Federation of Health Plans, a network of health insurance players.

While inflating patients’ bills, hospitals are laughing their way to the bank by compelling them to pay more than double or treble on products which they source at heavy discounts from manufacturers, and pocketing the difference.

Apart from the customary bed cost, medicines and doctor’s charges, for every item — from adult diapers to glucometer strips — that patients are charged for, the hospital rakes in huge margins by bargaining with manufacturers and then billing patients as per the ‘MRP’— an amount quoted in the bill.

Consumer experts say the bigger the hospital brand, greater is its bargaining power.

A health expert who has worked with private hospitals in Mumbai and Bangalore says that unlike medicines, on which hospitals make just 20-25% margins, adult diapers, monitoring devices, IV sets, etc, allow them to maximise margins, as these products are opened and administered to the patient directly by the staff. “Thus, the patient rarely gets to see the packet and actual MRP.”

“This is rampant with no transparency or accountability. Hospitals take advantage of the ignorance and vulnerability of patients who are only looking for the best treatment,” says Bejon Misra, founder of HealthyYou Foundation.

Hospital managements, however, remained tight-lipped about this scenario.  

An e-mail from Manipal hospital said they cannot comment on this, while an official from a leading corporate chain, who did not wish to be named, said information pertaining to the purchase division is kept confidential.  

According to a consumer expert, patients have a right to know the price at which hospitals have bought the products because they are paying for it. “A case can be filed in consumer courts if hospitals don’t respond.”

The situation plays itself to the benefit of hospitals as rarely do patients or relatives challenge anything quoted in the bill and rarer still is them asking hospitals for permission to buy products from outside.

“Hospitals don’t allow patients to buy products from outside, even those, like adult diapers, available in plenty at lower rates in wholesale markets,” says Misra.