Government Must Regulate MCOs To Safeguard Patient Safety And Ensure Quality Of Care

To: YAB DATO SERI ANWAR IBRAHIM 

The General Practitioners are the Gatekeepers to the Rakyat's health. The emergence of unregulated MCO/TPA/HMO has gravely effected the practice for the worse and is detrimental to the public's health.
Therefore, we, the collective General Practitioners (Registered Medical Practitioners- RMP) of Malaysia petition in unity, to urge YAB to immediately: 

A) Expedite the enactment of the long overdue MCO Act and ensuing that regulations to regulate the practice of managed care and code of conduct of MCOs are in the interest of good medical practice.

This is in line with practices in many developed countries that have managed care legislation to protect patients and doctors from unscrupulous business practices.

Legislation should include provisions to make MCOs liable as a result of imposing undue constraints on doctors that result in adverse outcomes of patients.

B) To direct the relevant ministry(s) to immediately vet all MCO contracts to ensure consistency, fairness to all concerned, and compliance with mandatory standards, which MCOs are obliged to meet as required by law.

C) To empower the relevant minister/ Bank Negara to protect the MCOs’/ Insurer-MCOs enrolees’ (patients) right to appropriate quality and choice of care.

D) Establish statutory responsibilities of MCOs towards patients, enrolees, and the RMPs, the contracted providers.

Based on the article: https://codeblue.galencentre.org/2023/09/18/open-letter-to-pm-anwar-government-must-regulate-mcos-to-safeguard-patient-safety-and-ensure-quality-of-care-13-medical-practitioners-groups/