Czech Finance Ministry to decide on creation of medical equipment price catalogue

2010-08-11

Ondrej Jakob, a spokesman for the Czech Finance Ministry, has told Denik Pravo that the ministry is considering the establishment of an obligatory online database of medical equipment prices in order to avoid the procurement of overpriced devices by Czech health facilities. The catalogue would contain the price range of any given equipment and would be updated on a regular basis. This would be obligatory for hospitals and the supervisory and audit authorities.
The ministry authorised an audit by Delloite, the international audit and consultancy firm, of Krajska Zdravotni, the Regional Health Corporation, to determine whether hospitals in North Bohemia had managed public funds efficiently. For example, Krajska Zdravotni purchased an MRI scanner for CZK 48m (€1.94m), whereas comparable equipment was bought by Prague’s Na Homolce Hospital for CZK 25m (€1.01m).
After assessing the audit results, the ministry will consider whether it should establish such a price catalogue. The doctors are in favour of this, as hundreds of millions of Czech crowns could be saved. Alena Dernerova, a paediatric neurologist, claims that such a catalogue would ensure that the overpriced equipment offered by some companies would simply not be sold.
Similar price catalogues are commonly used in other countries: for example, the United States has the “Good Price List” and the United Kingdom a “Fair market value” list.