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Top 10 achievements of the NHSO in 2023
Dr Jadej Thammatacharee
Secretary-General of the National Health Security Office (NHSO)
Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS), known by its original name the 30-Baht Healthcare Scheme, has continuously received budgets from the Thai government to ensure healthcare access to all Thai citizens while preventing catastrophic health expenditures.
The National Health Security Office (NHSO) has been the UCS fund manager, whose roles range from improving the scheme’s health benefits package and increasing coverage to submitting the report to the cabinet.
In the fiscal year 2023, the NHSO fulfilled its role and responsibilities by expanding the coverage to over 47.2 million people. It also supported 17,247 public and private health units nationwide to provide care to the UCS beneficiaries.
We recorded around 164.98 million outpatient visits and 6.26 million inpatient admissions — demonstrating the capacity of the Thai health system to serve increasing demands for health services.
The NHSO managed funds to improve access to specific healthcare needs, including an HIV/AIDS fund that provides treatment and counseling to 305,527 individuals.
Special funds were also available for treating 92,666 patients with chronic kidney disease and 4.27 million individuals with diabetes and high blood pressure. Care was provided to 13,107 people with mental health problems and 334,823 bedridden patients.
Around 2.83 million individuals could access primary care services, 23,301 patients receiving assistance payments from service providers, and 66.9 million individuals receiving health promotion and disease prevention services.
Here, we summarize ten areas where we made progress in 2023. 1. Elevate primary health care services in urban areas by integrating communication technology to enhance accessibility. This includes telemedicine services for outpatient care, the use of mobile applications to provide medical consultancy for 42 disease groups, and the improvement of mobile health services such as mobile dental clinics and children's eyeglass services.
2. Support innovative services that serve people's diverse lifestyles through the NHSO's partnership with health units that offer services beyond working hours or within reachable distances. These units include pharmacies, nursing and midwifery clinics, physiotherapy clinics, medical technology clinics, traditional Thai medicine, and alternative medicine clinics. The NHSO also supports the operation of the Quitline 1600 1323 Mental Health Hotline.
3. Promote the use of innovative medical devices developed by Thai innovators. Thai dental implanting roots and ostomy bags were among the devices included in the UCS benefits package last year, allowing the scheme beneficiaries to access high-cost treatment. Progress was also made in driving collaboration for improving Thai medical innovations, including promoting investment and advanced medical technology in a special economic zone, the Eastern Economic Corridor, and supporting policies that push laboratory development for cancer patients in Thailand. Efforts were made to promote monitoring and evaluation in the use of health innovations within the national health security system.
4. Enhance the 1330 NHSO Contact Center to meet the ISO 18295-1 standard for customer contact services. This was achieved by developing various online service channels to improve the convenience and efficiency of the patients. The upgrade led to further expansion of customer contact services this year, including coordinating referrals for patients undergoing dialysis, referral services for undocumented migrants and individuals with idle welfare rights in Bangkok, providing guidance on health promotion and disease prevention rights, and addressing complaints. Efforts have been made to develop the Health Provider Call Center, which includes consultation for healthcare unit operators offering services to UCS beneficiaries.
5. Proactively control the quality of public health services by addressing the extra billing and developing a five-year action plan (2023-2027) to protect patient rights. The NHSO has partnered with the Thailand Consumers Council to communicate, build understanding, and reduce extra billing.
6. Reduce the workload of emergency care by supporting the launch of after-hour outpatient clinics nationwide. The number of clinics increased fourfold from 64 in 2022 to 265 in 2023. They served 858,082 patients last year, significantly higher than 224,683 in the previous year. Most cases involved wound care, respiratory system diseases, and gastrointestinal system diseases, helping to alleviate the burden on emergency rooms — where medical staff can focus on emergency cases and improve the quality of services.
7. Local Administrative Organizations (LAOs) are widely engaged in local-level health funds, channeling the money to health projects that meet local needs.
Last year, 7,753 out of 7,774 LAOs participated in the funds, representing 99.73%. This high level of participation results from collaborative efforts with local bodies, including District Quality of Life Development Committees and Bangkok Metropolitan Region Quality of Life Development Committees — leading to the launch of 174,643 health projects, many of which are related to community health promotion and disease prevention. Approximately 44.21 million people benefited from these projects.
8. Coordinate with the fund managers of three Thai government healthcare schemes to improve the coverage and service standards. The NHSO (oversees the UCS), the Ministry of Finance (oversees the Civil Servant Medical Benefits Scheme), and the Social Security Office (oversees the Social Security Scheme) coordinated via committees, subcommittees, and relevant working groups to develop more consistent and standardized healthcare schemes. Some tangible results were witnessed, including expansions in the scope of benefit packages, adjustments of reimbursement rates that uniformly align across the three healthcare schemes, implementation of a clearing house, and the improvement of verifying reimbursements and service quality. Furthermore, efforts were made to ensure that all Thai citizens could access preventive health services and long-term care regardless of their healthcare schemes.
9. Include 13 new health benefits into the UCS as follows:
Secretary-General of the National Health Security Office (NHSO)
Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS), known by its original name the 30-Baht Healthcare Scheme, has continuously received budgets from the Thai government to ensure healthcare access to all Thai citizens while preventing catastrophic health expenditures.
The National Health Security Office (NHSO) has been the UCS fund manager, whose roles range from improving the scheme’s health benefits package and increasing coverage to submitting the report to the cabinet.
In the fiscal year 2023, the NHSO fulfilled its role and responsibilities by expanding the coverage to over 47.2 million people. It also supported 17,247 public and private health units nationwide to provide care to the UCS beneficiaries.
We recorded around 164.98 million outpatient visits and 6.26 million inpatient admissions — demonstrating the capacity of the Thai health system to serve increasing demands for health services.
The NHSO managed funds to improve access to specific healthcare needs, including an HIV/AIDS fund that provides treatment and counseling to 305,527 individuals.
Special funds were also available for treating 92,666 patients with chronic kidney disease and 4.27 million individuals with diabetes and high blood pressure. Care was provided to 13,107 people with mental health problems and 334,823 bedridden patients.
Around 2.83 million individuals could access primary care services, 23,301 patients receiving assistance payments from service providers, and 66.9 million individuals receiving health promotion and disease prevention services.
Here, we summarize ten areas where we made progress in 2023. 1. Elevate primary health care services in urban areas by integrating communication technology to enhance accessibility. This includes telemedicine services for outpatient care, the use of mobile applications to provide medical consultancy for 42 disease groups, and the improvement of mobile health services such as mobile dental clinics and children's eyeglass services.
2. Support innovative services that serve people's diverse lifestyles through the NHSO's partnership with health units that offer services beyond working hours or within reachable distances. These units include pharmacies, nursing and midwifery clinics, physiotherapy clinics, medical technology clinics, traditional Thai medicine, and alternative medicine clinics. The NHSO also supports the operation of the Quitline 1600 1323 Mental Health Hotline.
3. Promote the use of innovative medical devices developed by Thai innovators. Thai dental implanting roots and ostomy bags were among the devices included in the UCS benefits package last year, allowing the scheme beneficiaries to access high-cost treatment. Progress was also made in driving collaboration for improving Thai medical innovations, including promoting investment and advanced medical technology in a special economic zone, the Eastern Economic Corridor, and supporting policies that push laboratory development for cancer patients in Thailand. Efforts were made to promote monitoring and evaluation in the use of health innovations within the national health security system.
4. Enhance the 1330 NHSO Contact Center to meet the ISO 18295-1 standard for customer contact services. This was achieved by developing various online service channels to improve the convenience and efficiency of the patients. The upgrade led to further expansion of customer contact services this year, including coordinating referrals for patients undergoing dialysis, referral services for undocumented migrants and individuals with idle welfare rights in Bangkok, providing guidance on health promotion and disease prevention rights, and addressing complaints. Efforts have been made to develop the Health Provider Call Center, which includes consultation for healthcare unit operators offering services to UCS beneficiaries.
5. Proactively control the quality of public health services by addressing the extra billing and developing a five-year action plan (2023-2027) to protect patient rights. The NHSO has partnered with the Thailand Consumers Council to communicate, build understanding, and reduce extra billing.
6. Reduce the workload of emergency care by supporting the launch of after-hour outpatient clinics nationwide. The number of clinics increased fourfold from 64 in 2022 to 265 in 2023. They served 858,082 patients last year, significantly higher than 224,683 in the previous year. Most cases involved wound care, respiratory system diseases, and gastrointestinal system diseases, helping to alleviate the burden on emergency rooms — where medical staff can focus on emergency cases and improve the quality of services.
7. Local Administrative Organizations (LAOs) are widely engaged in local-level health funds, channeling the money to health projects that meet local needs.
Last year, 7,753 out of 7,774 LAOs participated in the funds, representing 99.73%. This high level of participation results from collaborative efforts with local bodies, including District Quality of Life Development Committees and Bangkok Metropolitan Region Quality of Life Development Committees — leading to the launch of 174,643 health projects, many of which are related to community health promotion and disease prevention. Approximately 44.21 million people benefited from these projects.
8. Coordinate with the fund managers of three Thai government healthcare schemes to improve the coverage and service standards. The NHSO (oversees the UCS), the Ministry of Finance (oversees the Civil Servant Medical Benefits Scheme), and the Social Security Office (oversees the Social Security Scheme) coordinated via committees, subcommittees, and relevant working groups to develop more consistent and standardized healthcare schemes. Some tangible results were witnessed, including expansions in the scope of benefit packages, adjustments of reimbursement rates that uniformly align across the three healthcare schemes, implementation of a clearing house, and the improvement of verifying reimbursements and service quality. Furthermore, efforts were made to ensure that all Thai citizens could access preventive health services and long-term care regardless of their healthcare schemes.
9. Include 13 new health benefits into the UCS as follows:
- Treatment of tissue inflammation in permanent molars
- Dental implants for individuals with missing teeth
- Screening for hepatitis B virus in pregnant women
- Screening for thalassemia in spouses/partners of pregnant women
- Screening for syphilis in spouses/partners of pregnant women
- Hearing screening for all Thai newborns
- BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene screening in breast cancer and ovarian cancer patients at high risk and with a family history of mutations
- Screening for metabolic genetic diseases using Tandem mass spectrometry (TMS) in newborns
- Screening for potentially malignant disorders and oral cancer
- Self-measurement of blood pressure at home
- The Quitline (1600) and mental health hotline (1323)
- Screening for risk factors for heart and vascular diseases
- Screening for tuberculosis in high-risk groups
