Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority approves 85% of fee waiver requests on average
Authority says it receives an average of about 5,000 applications a day, releasing figures following complaints about complicated procedures
Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority has said it receives about 5,000 public medical fee waiver applications a day under a recent shake-up, with an average approval rate of around 85 per cent, following complaints from patients about complicated procedures.
The authority released the numbers on Saturday, which showed that the approval rate for fee reductions at some public hospital clusters reached nearly 90 per cent, with patients issued a certificate on the same day they applied.
“The Hospital Authority currently has processed an average of 5,000 medical fee waiver applications daily,” it said, adding that its average approval rate was about 85 per cent.
It added that, overall, 54,658 applications for medical fee waivers had been approved, including 33,759 that had been assessed and issued with reduction certificates.
“Under normal circumstances, waivers will be issued within about one hour of submitting all required documents,” the authority said.
It added that it had issued 20,899 conditional waivers for those who had failed to submit the required documents but needed urgent medical services.