mDoctors, patients, nurses and dialysis providers once again raised their voices and asked Fonasa to quickly resolve the issue of tariff increases by 2024, as treatment costs, according to their complaints, exceed the amount the agency pays.
The Dialysis is Life Alliance also warns of the risk of bankruptcy of private providers who treat more than 90% of patients who need this treatment.
This is considering that Chile’s dialysis system serves over 25,000 people with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and each year over 5,000 patients begin hemodialysis treatment; that is, an annual growth of 3.4%, if you look at the trend of the last 10 years.
François Rius, President of the National Association for Independent Dialysis (Anadi), told Emola that the problem is not only economic, but also medical, since these treatments are provided to patients with end-stage chronic kidney disease. . And he emphasizes that this situation also “has consequences for the quality of care and stress for officials.”
The risk, he says, lies in the “closing of dialysis centers”, which, according to a cost study, showed that the cost of one session of hemodialysis in the period of 2022 ranged from 66,999 to 68,055 US dollars, which is equivalent to 8.4% to 10 .05%. above the tariff or maximum offer price in effect in 2022, which was $61,780. This means that in the analyzed period (2022), dialysis service providers operated with an average loss of 10%.
After consulting on the matter, Juan Luis Castro, president of the Senate Health Commission, announced that he would call all participants to get all the background information and find a solution to the problem.
Similarly, Castro argued that what Díalisis es Vida offers “is a real problem, as the costs of treatment exceed the prices, that is, every time dialysis is carried out, which in Chile is outsourced 90% of the time, done by private companies , even if they are Fonas patients, there is a gradual deterioration in dialysis funding in our country.”
emol