TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
JKN patients flock to public hospitals
Since its inception in January this year, the national health insurance (JKN) program has attracted not only the poor but also middle-income citizens who usually go to more expensive, private hospitals
Change Size
S
ince its inception in January this year, the national health insurance (JKN) program has attracted not only the poor but also middle-income citizens who usually go to more expensive, private hospitals.
A resident of Serang, Banten, Sinta, 41, is among the middle-class who decided to sign up for the program to provide sustainable treatment for her mother-in-law, a hemodialysis patient.
She had previously spent millions per month to cover her mother-in-law's hemodialysis treatments, but now the family pays monthly premiums of just Rp 59,500 (US$4.79) in the JKN scheme.
Her mother-in-law has been receiving treatment at Siloam Public Hospital (RSU Siloam) in Lippo Karawaci, Tangerang, Banten, for a year now.
'We don't have to pay extra for the treatments. It's such a relief,' she said.
Sinta said her family had transferred her mother-in-law from a private hospital in Tangerang to RSU Siloam because of the JKN program.
'Of course there are some differences. The private hospital was simple and fast, while when we first transferred to RSU Siloam we had to wait a bit longer. But we understand that it is part of the consequence,' she said.
RSU Siloam director Monica Lembong acknowledged that since the inception of the national health insurance program early this year, the hospital, which provides affordable medical services, had served hundreds of JKN patients on a daily basis.
'Eighty percent of our patients are JKN patients, while the remainder are regular patients. RSU Siloam handles 400 outpatients a day, between 40 and 50 of whom usually become inpatients,' Monica said when The Jakarta Post visited the busy hospital recently.
Due to the high number of patients, the hospital has long waiting lists for surgical and other special treatments.
'The waiting list for hemodialysis patients stands at 90, and that is lower than usual,' Monica said.
The six-story hospital has 600 third-class beds, 10 intensive care unit (ICU) beds, four neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) beds, four hemodialysis beds and 28 specialist beds.
'We plan to expand our facilities and build an ICCU section,' she said.
In 2012, Siloam Hospitals Group built the public hospital to fill a gap and provide an affordable medical facility in the regency after the Tangerang administration recommended the group build a public hospital.
The more expensive Siloam Lippo Karawaci hospital, next to the public hospital, is now called Siloam Lippo Village.
While it was not easy for many private hospitals to cope with JKN patients, Monica pointed out that with good cash flow and human capital management, the scheme would not hurt a private hospital's operations.
'We have also been struggling and we are still learning. But with good management and cross-subsidy we can cope and we won't suffer losses just because we serve insurance patients. In our third year of operation, the hospital can finally make a profit, even though it's not significant yet,' she said.
'The most important thing is that we understand the coding system and that our doctors are aware of the medical path: which procedure is necessary and which is not, etc. We don't interfere with medical procedures, but doctors should understand the do's and don'ts in this healthcare scheme,' she said.
While adjusting to the JKN scheme might be the main issue for private hospitals incorporated in the program, city-owned hospitals face different challenges.
Tarakan Public Hospital head Kusmedi Priharto said that improving the referral system was his main concern because without this, major public hospitals would be overwhelmed with patients from smaller hospitals.
'We are building an online registration system that connects our hospital to puskesmas [community health centers]. It will help patients find available facilities and help hospitals with better management,' he said.
Kusmedi added that he was also developing medical chips that included patients' medical records. 'If this succeeds, patients should only take the chip everywhere so hospitals can easily access their medical records, which would be stored [in cloud storage],' he said.
