General information regarding local HK doctors

[carang]

HMOs in hk???

[Watercooler]

HMOs in hk???

Yes, HMOs in HK. Only they don't call it "HMO" in HK. But it's the same thing. They call it medical plan or some other other bullsh*t. If your company has medical insurance coverage for instance with Bupa, those are the kind of doctors you will see. Paid employees to a company, the less patients they see, the easier they get through their day. Contrast that with predominantly self-employed private doctors, they have a much stronger incentive to treat you better.

[shenwen]

Yes, HMOs in HK. Only they don't call it "HMO" in HK. But it's the same thing. They call it medical plan or some other other bullsh*t. If your company has medical insurance coverage for instance with Bupa, those are the kind of doctors you will see. Paid employees to a company, the less patients they see, the easier they get through their day. Contrast that with predominantly self-employed private doctors, they have a much stronger incentive to treat you better.

I don't get it. I have insurance and can choose what doctor I go and see. same as if I did not have insurance. what is the difference?

[hullexile]

WTF? There are not special BUPA doctors, you see the normal doctor then claim the money. What does HMO stand for?

[PDLM]

Some company insurance schemes have lists of doctors that you can see who just charge the insurers directly rather than you having to pay and then claim. I believe this is what Watercooler is referring to.

[Watercooler]

I don't get it. I have insurance and can choose what doctor I go and see. same as if I did not have insurance. what is the difference?

I'm not just referring to a designated list of doctors under the insurance plan. I'm talking about HMO, or doctor's group as they called it here:

pre-paid medical plans for out-patient services offered through doctor groups. These are mainly services offered to employers where the employer pays a fixed sum to the doctor group for future healthcare needs of their employees. In the USA, these services are structured as pre-paid insurance plans. Most of the plans in Hong Kong have some integration of specialist doctor services with the GP service, however there are none that we are aware of that integrate hospital services as well. Some insurers purchase these HMO plans for their clients and integrate this into the insurance package sold.

http://www.legco.gov.hk/yr05-06/engl...b2-1075-2e.pdf

This is what my company offer to it's employees, rotten doctor service if you asked me.

[Watercooler]

WTF? There are not special BUPA doctors, you see the normal doctor then claim the money. What does HMO stand for?

Learn to expand your vocabulary. This ain't the UK .

http://www.legco.gov.hk/yr05-06/engl...b2-1075-2e.pdf

Managed Care in Hong Kong
In the private sector, there is now quite a number of preferred-doctors schemes in Hong Kong.Some of these are run by insurance companies, while others aree run by doctors' groups. Many doctors' groups are also providing services to contract patients at significant discounts. There is also a certain number of pre-paid capitation schemes whereby a commercial corporation offers a fixed sum to a group practice to look after all the medical needs (within defined areas) of its employees. There is a lack of data as to how wide spread this practice is . There is, however, anecdotal evidence that there is now increasing interest among big employers for this kind of medical benefits for their employees.

At the same time, as the number of private medical practitioners reaches a level of saturation, health insurance companies will be having more bargaining power when they negotiate discounts with doctors' groups. Once the insurance companies start introducing measures to reduce usage by the end-users then we will be seeing the North American type of Managed Care companies.

While most doctors in Hong Kong would accept that the introduction of some kind of managed care is inevitable in the development of the health delivery system, many in the private sector fear that the coming of HMO and pre-paid capitation will lower the income of doctors as well as compromise standard. The latter concern is well justified by the experience in the U.S over the last decade. It is not surprising that there is now a very strong movement to make participation in Captitation schemes unethical in the code of practice of the HK Medical Council. The large medical groups already offering such capitation schemes naturally do no want this to happen. It remained to be seen what the Medical Council finally decide to do.
http://www.hkam.org.hk/temp/hmo.html

[hullexile]

Still don't know what HMO stands for. Ah I do now.

[dtb]

Talking about visiting doctors, I once visited a neighbourhood private practice Dr. for some runny noses and fever, after the routine checkup and consultation, he asked me if I want to pay cash or charged to my company's medical card. I asked him if there is a different and he gave me a pretty skillful answer.

"If you opted to pay by yourself, I will have more choice on drugs"

So, you see what's behind.

[lennox08]

from personal experience of myself who had major surgeries here in Hkg and family members getting erroneous advice, trust me HKG doctors are of a poor standard, l know from experience after a nasty accident in HKG that left one eye blind and severely squinted. eye doctors at prince of wales initially said l should get a prosthetic as the eye was blind and atrophying, as well as being severely squint which would involve complications, Yet l decided to keep the eye and had couple of major eye surgeries to correct the squintness, neither of them worked. During this period l also had maxiofacial surgery by the consultant at POW, another waste of time, effort and faith in HKG surgeons. he even said he has made my stitches less noticeable by reopening all the stitches in my head and sealing them up again! Well l had to go back to UK to have properly qualified doctors do the surgery, when l say qualified I don't just mean academic, its experience and professionalism. the consultant at queen marys eye hospital in London (the top eye hospital in UK if not the world,) couldn't believe l was told a prosthetic was recommended, and being told by the HKG doctors my eye was atrophying. It had simply receded into socket because of the impact. the squint surgery would also be very straight forward, contrary to what I was told by the HKG drs. Well surgery went perfect and the maxiofacial surgery in UK was also a success.
it doesnt surprise me at all to hear about mishaps and blunders in HK medical services, their medical service comes a very poor third place in comparison to UK . I am also talking about gps in HK as well. just some of the blunders like removal of a 4 yr old's fallopian tube since surgeon thought it was her appendix, having milk pumped instead of blood into a patient, patient given the wrong blood type and one ending up with a haemorrage, pumping air into an elderly patients bloodstream instead of her pillow, there are countless more egs, lack of experince among surgeons and nurses perhaps? but unforgivable.
Everything is relative of course, HKG medical services compared to mainlands? well HKG would out do the mainlands just as UK would out do HKG. also despite my poor experiences of surgeons and Drs in HKG I am sure there will be some capable.