HSE claims McCarthy cuts would save €300m

THE HEALTH Service Executive (HSE) has told the Government that it believes that controversial cost-reduction proposals recommended in the recent McCarthy group report could generate savings and additional income of around €300 million.

However, it has warned that the implementation of the proposals would involve the Government introducing policy and legislation changes.

In its report, the McCarthy group estimated that the HSE could save hundreds of millions of euro by the introduction of measures, such as revising the guidelines for medical card eligibility, increasing the threshold for subsidies under the Drug Payment Scheme and requiring medical cards holders to pay a €5 co-payment for each prescription they have dispensed.

Other proposals included increasing hospital charges and levying higher bills for private facilities in public hospitals.

In its submission to the Department of Health, as part of the current negotiations on spending plans for next year, the HSE said an initial review of the deliverability of the McCarthy recommendations indicated that Government policy and legislative changes in respect of areas such as medical card eligibility, the threshold for the Drug Payment Scheme, the co-payment for patients covered by the GMS, as well as revised hospital charges could “amount to increased income/savings in excess of €300 million”.

The HSE said a separate process was underway to determine the level of savings that could be made as a result of the implementation of other proposals, such as having GPs and pharmacists tender for contracts to operate the GMS or by making it mandatory for doctors to prescribe generic medicines and off-patent drugs and to use value-for-money high-tech treatments.

The HSE told the Department it believed recommendations in the McCarthy report relating to human resources were “issues for the wider public sector”. However, informed sources said if the Government targets core pay in the public service it would limit room for cutting back on areas such as allowances and overtime.