Overview
Over the past decade, the demand for healthcare services in Hong Kong has surged due to population ageing and a rising life expectancy. Meanwhile, to address the imbalance between the public and private sectors and ease the pressure on public healthcare, the Government has encouraged greater adoption of private healthcare services. Yet, the information asymmetry between doctors and patients makes it difficult for consumers to compare prices and make informed choices when choosing healthcare services. If the price transparency of private healthcare services is not sufficient, consumers might even face financial burden from unexpected bills.
Therefore, the Consumer Council (“the Council”) conducted a comprehensive study titled “Price Transparency in Healthcare: Fostering Consumer Trust and Value” (“the Study”) to examine the concerns and pain points experienced by consumers in using private healthcare services, identify areas for improvement and put forward 5 recommendations for enhancing the price transparency in the private healthcare sector. These recommendations are intended for consideration and discussion by the Government, stakeholders and the public.
Key Findings
From October 2022 to December 2024, the Council carried out the Study which covered the 4 stages of the patient journey, including searching for price information, exploring medical packages, obtaining budget estimates, and resolving price disputes. The Study encompassed 13 PHs providing the 30 common and non-emergency treatments/procedures (“30 treatments/procedures”) recommended by the Department of Health, and 128 DPCs providing anaesthetic/endoscopic/surgical procedures, which are more relevant to the 30 treatments/procedures.
The Study adopted a mixed-method approach comprised (i) a consumer survey targeting patients (consumers) who received budget estimates/quotations on their treatment/procedure from a PH/DPC; (ii) in-depth user interviews with patients who experienced price discrepancies between their budget estimates and final bills from treatments/procedures at PHs/DPCs; (iii) a trader survey targeting PHs and DPCs to understand their scope of medical services, the current implementation measures related to price transparency, and their views on these measures; (iv) desktop research of official websites and marketing materials of PHs and DPCs for selected treatments/procedures, and phone enquiries to obtain price information; (v) pre- and post-Study engagements with stakeholders including Government and public bodies, healthcare facilities and medical professionals, patient organisations and insurers; (vi) analysis of the Council’s complaint cases related to healthcare services; and (vii) review of price transparency measures in selected markets. The Council derived the following difficulties encountered by consumers along the patient journey from the above research methods:
Searching for price information:
- Relevant price information was hard to understand/insufficient/absent
- Lack of clarity regarding accountability for providing or explaining price information
- Historical bill sizes statistics – Low awareness, not up-to-date nor user-friendly
- Unclear charging mechanism for doctor’s fees and private hospital charges/day procedure centre charges
Exploring medical packages:
- Limited availability of medical packages among the 30 common and non-emergency treatments/procedures
- Insufficient transparency regarding additional charges on medical packages
- Challenges in making like-for-like comparisons of medical packages
Obtaining budget estimates:
- Limited provision of detailed and written budget estimates
- Lack of identification for other specialists and anaesthetists in budget estimates
Resolving price disputes:
- Limited explanation on price discrepancies
- Consumers seldom lodged complaints for various considerations
Recommendations
With an overarching aim to empower consumers and reduce information asymmetry, the Council puts forward 5 recommendations:
1. Improve consumers’ accessibility to price information with a search tool
2. Promote the use of packaged charges
3. Require the provision of a clear and written budget estimate
4. Enhance the current regulatory framework on price provision, and complaint handling mechanism on price matters
5. Strengthen consumer education through multi-channels and collaborative effort
Conclusion
Through this Study, the Council hopes to raise public awareness of issues pertaining to the price transparency in Hong Kong’s private healthcare sector, and calls for collaborative effort among the Government, industry professionals, stakeholders, and consumers to adopt the recommendations progressively, with a view to narrowing the existing gaps in consumer protection, empowering consumers by reducing information asymmetry, and ultimately leading to a more transparent, trustworthy and accountable healthcare environment.
