Treatment of beneficiaries of the Chilean public health system with arrhythmias in a University Clinical Hospital
González, R.; González, R.; Frangini, P.; Vergara, I.; Baeza, M.
Revista Medica de Chile 133(12): 1493-1499
2005
ISSN/ISBN: 0034-9887 PMID: 16446878 Document Number: 589556
The costs of medical care increase along with technological advances. Therefore, highly complex and expensive procedures should be performed in a limited number of institutions. To report the initial experience on electrophysiological studies performed to beneficiaries of a public health insurance system in Chile (FONASA). An agreement was reached between the Electrophysiology Unit of the Clinical Hospital of the Catholic University and FONASA, to perform electrophysiological studies at a minimal cost, that only considered disposable materials and hospital stay. Thirty patients with supraventricular arrhythmias or ventricular arrhythmias without an associated cardiopathy, were attended using this agreement at the unit. In all treated patients, arrhythmias disappeared. Costs remained within the assigned budget, excepting occasional complementary tests. This pioneering experience demonstrated that it is possible that public health insurance systems can buy complex and expensive procedures to private hospitals.