The National Health Security Office (NHSO) will develop partnerships with Bangkok-based clinics to increase patients’ entry points to health services covered by the Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS).
 
             

Dr Jadej Thammatacharee, the NHSO secretary-general, explained that the partnership development aimed to solve people’s limited access to health services.
 
It is also the NHSO’s long-term strategy to strengthen primary care, which is seen as a vital element of the health system that improves overall health outcomes.
 
The NHSO has partnered with 200 clinics that provide free primary care to UCS beneficiaries.
 
The clinic operators can claim the medical fees from the NHSO, allowing people to access healthcare services regardless of their financial situation.
 
These partnered clinics have played a big role in health promotion and disease prevention programs and emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
Their health staff has joined forces to battle the coronavirus by treating and monitoring mild-symptom patients isolated at home.
 
They have also assisted the NHSO in distributing free self-test kits to the general public and local communities.  
 
Dr Jadej said there was the need to involve at least 500 clinics to improve healthcare access at an acceptable level. 
 
According to the Department of Health Service Support (DHSS) under the Ministry of Public Health, there are 5,000 clinics in Bangkok.
 
Around 2,000 are general practice clinics, many of which have the potential to partner with the NHSO. The rest are beauty clinics.
 
“The overall number of clinics in Bangkok is enough to provide people healthcare access. But their owners are not interested in partnering with the NHSO, or they find our partner selection criteria don’t fit them.
 
We will revise the criteria to encourage more clinic participation in the UCS,” said Dr Jadej.
 
The NHSO’s selection of partners will consider the clinic locations and accessibility.    
 
            

The partner clinics must be registered with DHSS and operated eight hours a day. Those with official hours less than eight are not eligible for partnership.
 
But the NHSO is reconsidering partnering with them to increase healthcare entry points for the UCS beneficiaries. 
 
Partnered clinics can claim medical fees from the NHSO under fee schedule payment, a list of medical procedures with maximum payment rates for each.
 
They will receive the payment within two to three days after submitting the medical claim to the NHSO, thanks to the improvement of the organization's e-reimbursement system.
 
More than 4,000 services and items are covered by the NHSO.
 
“Our beneficiaries will be convenient and be able to find health units near their homes if we involve more clinics,” said Dr Jadej.
 
“Their participation in the health system will upgrade primary care services in Bangkok. We plan to develop similar partnerships with clinics in other big cities.” 
 
The NHSO is currently recruiting new partnered clinics that are expected to start providing health services to UCS beneficiaries from Oct 1 onward.