7 June – Deputy Director of the National Cancer Institute Pointed out after the launch of the Cancer Anywhere policy, it made cancer patients more convenient and more accessible to treatment. Satisfaction results for both patients and service providers were at a good level. In 2024, we continued to visit health districts across the country to communicate policies more thoroughly.
Dr. Supakorn Pitakkarnkul medical specialist specializing in medicine Gynecological Oncology and deputy medical director National Cancer Institute Mentioning the cancer treatment everywhere or Cancer Anywhere policy in the National Health Security System or the Gold Card that This policy has been implemented since January 1, 2021 according to the resolution of the National Health Security Board or the NHSO board to increase convenience and increase access to treatment for cancer patients. Originally, having to have the hospital of origin make a transfer to a hospital that can treat changed to allow cancer patients to be treated at hospitals in the national health insurance system or gold card anywhere This gives more options for treatment. and when a referral letter from the hospital of origin is not required It helps to facilitate Reduce the travel of more patients, for example, patients who live in other provinces but come to work in Bangkok. when suffering from cancer had to go back and start at Tonsit Hospital and receive treatment in that health area
Dr. Supakorn further said that in the past 2-3 years, the number of new cancer patients is approximately 140,000 / year, the number of visits to the hospital, both old and new, about 2 million times / year and since the Cancer Anywhere policy Happened. The number of gold patent cancer patients also slightly increased. But not increasing in a leap It is expected that they are patients who have never used gold patents, such as paying for themselves, when this policy has caused some patients to return to use their rights in the gold card system.
However, in terms of the convenience of receiving the service, the picture will be clear. Patients receive treatment faster. satisfaction assessment results Both from the service provider and the service system are at a good level. Meanwhile, the Cancer Institute have collected access to comparison services before and after this policy It was found that the rate of access to treatment Including surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, increasing gradually, with the top 5 most common cancers. These are liver/bile duct cancer, lung cancer, breast cancer, colon/rectal cancer. and cervical cancer
As for the direction of the cancer institute’s policy drive, Dr. Supakorn said that the cancer institute Responsible for providing services in 2 parts: 1. Designing information systems to support policies. Because when there is no referral letter In order for hospitals to communicate with each other, they must develop a program for transferring treatment information between hospitals, for example, what cancer is the patient diagnosed with? What treatment has been received? Development of an app to check the queue of each hospital to see how many people are waiting in line. Which hospital can go to receive services quickly and develop a mobile app to return the patient’s treatment history and 2. Organize a network of cancer coordinators (Cancer coordinator) of each hospital in all health districts. responsible for publicizing the policy understand the patient Liaison between hospitals
However, from the operation in 2021 until now There are still obstacles in some issues. 1. Policy Awareness Because the policy came quite quickly, time was tight and stuck with the problem of COVID-19 Including a change in the position of the working person as well Therefore, policy communication may not be 100% thorough. 2. Coordination. If the most efficient Coordination between hospitals must flow. But there are still some who are used to the system of using the referral letter. Therefore, we must try to create a coordination in advance to make the patient as convenient as possible and 3. Information system, although Cancer Anywhere has a separate program system. but data standards The programs used by each hospital vary. Causing me to save data many times inconvenient for the operator Therefore, if possible, I would like the information system to be standardized and linked. It will help reduce the workload.
“Continuing operations in 2023, we will focus on visiting health districts across the country to communicate policies thoroughly. People who move to accept new positions will be aware of the policy. In addition, we are trying to promote more benefits of cancer treatment based on new scientific information. as well as information systems It will develop together with the Ministry of Public Health in developing cancer standard datasets to support data connectivity in the future. And the other part is trying to push this into the social security fund. Because now the gold card is Cancer Anywhere, civil servant rights are like Cancer Anywhere. If Social Security has this issue, it will really benefit everyone in the country, ”said Dr. Supakorn. -Thai News Agency
Source: Thai News Agency