Expert warns Swiss health administration costs are out of control

SAMS President, health administration costs out of control Keystone-SDA

The administrative costs of the Swiss healthcare system are out of control, according to Arnaud Perrier, the president of the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences (SAMS). He argues major savings should be made on patient documentation.

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A quarter of the population renounces medical treatment for economic reasons. “We are expensive, but not too expensive,” Perrier argued in an interview with the CH Media group newspapers on Tuesday. On the other hand, administrative costs are rising unabated.

According to Perrier, effective documentation should be a compulsory part of medical training. “A clear result of a CT scan does not need a novel,” he added, pointing to electronic records and artificial intelligence as tools that could optimise work. Both could help doctors in the time-consuming process of submitting claims to health insurance companies.

The SAMS president also complains that many people go to the emergency room on weekends, when they could wait until Monday for a visit. Perrier therefore believes that the opening hours of doctors’ offices should be extended to relieve the emergency services.

Primary care should also be easily accessible early in the morning, late in the evening and at weekends to relieve this pressure, the expert suggested, pointing out that doctors available outside normal office hours should be adequately remunerated.

Adapted from Italian by AI/jdp

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