The role of contractual arrangements in improving health sector ...

Jordan
Administrative staff to coordinate, supervise and monitor the implementation of this
contract on daily basis.
• A committee from the Ministry of Health is assigned to control and monitor all
administrative aspects related to this contract. The committee reports directly to the Minister
and should assure full utilization of the leased beds, high quality of services for the Ministry
of Health patients and that all contracted services are met by the hospital.
• If the hospital does not meet any of its obligations as specified in this contract, the Ministry
of Health control committee has the right to make the necessary arrangement to compensate
for this and deduct the cost from the hospital payment.
• The Ministry of Health pays the hospital at the end of each month.
• The hospital provides the Ministry of Health with six outpatient clinics for JD 2000 per clinic
monthly. The services provided by the hospital for outpatient clinics include physical
facilities and nursing services only. Diagnostic services are provided to Ministry of Health
outpatients according to the minimum rate, with 25% discount.
• The Ministry of Health has the right to rent all the beds of the hospital. In this case, the
hospital must evacuate its patients within 24 hour notice.
• The duration of the contract is one year. It is self renewed. However, each party has the right
to discontinue the contract or change its contents against written request before two months
of the expiry date.
Strengths
For the Ministry of Health
• It provides instant expansion to Al-Bashir Hospital (40 beds which could be increased to 160
beds) without bearing any capital investment. The average capital cost per hospital bed in a
modern general hospital in Jordan is about JD 100 000 to JD 150 000. Thus, the contract
saves about JD 5 million for the Ministry of Health budget.
• It improves the access of insured patients to relatively high quality hospital care and
minimizes the pressure on Ministry of Health hospitals in East Amman (mainly Al-Bashir
Hospital). This has a positive impact on the access of the poor to highly subsidized hospital
services offered by the Ministry of Health.
• The average cost per admission is JD 331. This is about 50% of the costs that the Ministry of
Health pays to other private hospitals with fee-for-service contracts (Table 3).
• The general feedback from patients reflects better satisfaction levels. This is likely because
of:
Better standards of hotel services.
Flexible visiting hours.
Short waiting lists.
Better response of the staff to patients needs.
Geographical accessibility.
Availability of private and semi-private rooms.
No crowds.
136