https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2025/05/...ew-pricing-rule

Clinic bills set to soar: Doctors warn of 30pct hike under new pricing rule

PETALING JAYA: Private medical practitioners have warned that treatment charges at clinics and hospitals could rise by as much as 30 per cent due to the enforcement of a new pricing directive.

The Federation of Private Medical Practitioners' Associations Malaysia (FPMPAM) said that patients would bear the brunt of the cost increase, as clinics were now required to itemise charges that were previously bundled under a single fee.

Its president Dr Shanmuganathan T.V. Ganeson said that the new rule disrupted the existing billing system, in which consultation, treatment, and medication were charged together.

"Clinics now have to unbundle costs, including operating expenses, which must be separately listed on the bill," said Dr Shanmuganathan.

According to Utusan Malaysia, estimates suggest that patient charges could rise by between 10 and 30 per cent, depending on the type of treatment and medication. In some cases, a standard consultation may cost RM10 to RM30 more than before.


On May 6, some 200 doctors gathered at Laman Perdana near Perdana Putra in Putrajaya to protest the new directive.

The group assembled at 9.30am before a 10-member delegation, led by Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) representative Datuk Dr R. Thirunavukarasu, entered the Prime Minister's Office to submit a memorandum.

The protesters urged the government to review Act 723 and place regulation of medical practice solely under the Private Healthcare Facilities and Services Act 1998 (Act 586), which they argued was sufficient for the sector.

While protests continue, most private clinics have already begun displaying medicine prices, as required. Bundled billing remains in place at many clinics for the time being, pending a decision from the Health Ministry.

Patients may begin to see higher bills as early as August if no changes are introduced during the grace period.

"Once the grace period ends, clinics will be required to provide a full breakdown of all charges," Dr Shanmuganathan said.

The price display requirement, gazetted on May 1, falls under the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011 (Act 723) and is enforced by the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry. It applies to all private clinics, hospitals, and pharmacies.



TLDR : title and great, my antibiotic about to expensive 30%

how we protest back?


dont get sick ?

Pull a Luigi?

Boykote

why being transparent increases the price. I’m confused

Eh itemise also increase cost meh?

Crooks.

This doctor think we born yesterday ka, unbundle will increase cost apa lj

Hopefully overall cost remains the same.

Meds prices down due to cannot con money here 😁
So, consultation has to go up to maintain ARPU...

Dulu, $50 med, $50 consult = $100
Now, $30 med, $70 consult = $100

?

Anyway, consultation fee has been stagnant for 3 decades

exactly, as I said couple of other threads, I dont see anything good that is going to come out of this exercise, end of the customers are gonna lose.

At least with current system, the consultancy is low, 30-40bucks, and I dont need to take the medicine from the clinic if Im paying myself, I just take the prescription and buy the drug at pharmacy.

And those who has insurance, anyways, its being paid by company.

Isn't consultation and medicine usually separate even in clinics? What bundle are they talking about?

Kekwa
Macam fastfood dah. Alacarte lagi mahal dari combo.

La ktards, when your didi painful due to too much prawn, who is the one who help you? When did kena std from 2feidai ada pus ada blood, who is the one who save your didi?

Ni 30% je increase, doktor kan suci murni prihatin to your well being? 30% is a steal. We should give more to our dear doktors

Doctor mah...

itemise cost 3 minutes extra writing effort... that's a 30% increase in cost... Tuna Seng ah... these doctors...

This post has been edited by thankyou: May 21 2025, 12:57 AM

Possible reasons are the overhead to create all those pricelist and combinations.

The simplest explanation is that previously they just put a number that "feels" right. Doctors are generally not businessman, so they likely kept their calculations simple. Some items might be sharing margins, but if all itemized out, every item will have its own margin.

consultation fees are fixed by gomen (currenly RM35).

bang, that pureawesomeness went to RM1 klinik la... you think he will pay for private GP meh?

This post has been edited by diffyhelman2: May 21 2025, 01:17 AM

Cabai Madani
1. TNB hike
2. Insurance hike
3. Medical treatment now hike

but in 1990s or maybe early 2000s, GP dont dare charge maximum consultation fee, if maximum charge were rm35, they only charge rm10. now every doctor charge the ceiling rate.

what if this itemized bill and medication price list is actually being lobbied by the insurance companies. the consumer only want to be as minimum as possible.

Doctors are getting greedy

Add a few lines in the receipt and price can suddenly go up by 30% kah?

This post has been edited by Moderna: May 21 2025, 02:54 AM

Cannot brain

Not sure what this doctor smoking

When I go to clinic and use company panel, I will get an email on cost of consultation and cost of medicine like by line

This is already establish so why the same thing will increase price ?

docs are big pharma shill

coz they want us to pay for their maruah T'Chala treatment....

many old people in this thread

Wait till AI starts to take over.

Jeng jeng jeng
Zaman healthcare "seringgit" akan berlepas
Private and insurance semua naik harga

Anda sudah bersedia?

Moonlight as electrician or plumber

this

Must be the medicine price ______ .

The are separated in system but billed together.

if you use medical card , usually you will get the breakdown but still not itemized bill as to cost of each item

Doing for 10 people a day Vs 50 people a day. (Clinic)

Not many use medical card in clinic so they do not need to spend a lot of time in clinic but if every patient then, the person may end up spending a lot of time doing it so extra/higher salary.

That will translate to extra cost which then becomes extra charge.

go to government clinic

Need to invest into a system or additional manpower if this needs to be done for each patient,. and need to recover cost


Hospital should be no issue because they already have system in place - but will take opportunity to raise the pricing

Private clinic - confirm impact but amount of cost i am not sure

itemize is a bad thing now?

I am wondering when they do inventory in the clinics for the medical and tools supplies, they pay to the suppliers by itemization or just pay a lump sum without DOING ACTUAL STOCK CHECKING??

For fucking sake, i checked my recent visit to my panel clinic, each medicine and consultation fee are clearly listed. I am not sure why this crook association said it is a hard thing to do and deem for increase in prices.

This post has been edited by gundamsp01: May 21 2025, 08:31 AM

There's a clinic nearby where the doctors come in late (1-1.5 hours after the open time) and charge more expensive. They'll give you an annoyed look when asked for itemised billing.

New 24-hour clinic at an adjacent area with much more expensive rental can charge less and provide itemised billing before it is mandatory. Best thing is that the doctors are always around since it is 24-hours, and they even have reserved parking for patients. Don't need to waste time waiting for the doctor to arrive.

Probably doctors like the first clinic are the ones making a huge fuss about this since they've been making a killing all this while.

Faster AI doctor lah, waste time waste moneh.

does klinik 1Malaysia still exist? stlll RM1 for treatment? go there

Good is medical insurance can use in Gov hospital for 1st tier or priority service. Let the private hospitals get the hit..

10% = Rm30 increase ?

sure kah ?

which GP charge RM270 previously for consultation but hide in drug prices ?

no wonder angry cause cannot hide liao.

This post has been edited by Redhunt: May 21 2025, 09:01 AM

Will the good doctors please stand up? What now they all forgot their hippocratic oath

like taxi driver say: boss, klcc pergi bukit bintang 50 ringgit.

Rm35 been stagnant for 3 decades. Why they concern about this nowadays.
Just like what ppl are complaining, basic salary in blehland been stagnant for decade as well.

Because now they charge "reveal price fee".

no need warn. just hike as much as you like

"Ink nowadays mahal tau!"

you guy get receipt from clinic?

unless you insist, they normally don't give one

inb4 the politic guy come in and say "ini government you olang pilih"

They should.

so next time we sick, need get quotations first ? fuck lol

But boycotting doctors, ayam have never taken a MC since graduated except for one time Dengue Fever.

Supermarket also disclose price, why clinic cannot? Just because disclose price, want to hike clinic fee??

Private: Ada medical card? No. Can pay rmXxxx as deposit? No. Sila pigi government

Government: sila tunggu ya. Maybe few hours for the doctor to check, 1-2 days for an empty bed in the ward.

true

guess it's time to make government hospital even more stress now

sohai punya MOH, until now still charging RM1, all our tax money fly into there paying for those fcking diabetes patients, some even abused the diabetic injection cheap cheap there. MOH should increase the fees too to RM10 at least to improve the GH facilities if private hospital wanna play price game

Government already changed from BN, to PH, to PN & now Madani
Already experienced COVID pandemic
Menteri kesihatan pun sudah tukar ke paling disukai oleh ramai

yet, nothing significant was done.
Yang paham, paham la.

Itemised sahaja.. then bagi discount 30%.. apa susah.. just show in the receipt..

Some countries, do not allow Doctors to dispense medicine. Doctors just for consultation, tests and prescription. Go to pharmacy to get the medicine.

min wage can set like crap...

but cannot min bill from doctors....

kerajaan minda jangka pendek macam kuku sendiri....1"

consult fee gomen kena set limit, kalau break the rule ambil license balik

They know once everything is listed ppl will avoid doctors that charge expensive and rush to doctor that charge cheap. So competition war gonna force doctors to reduce price or close door.

Most clinic already has a system for that that interface with all their panel

That’s why they have list of panel like aia, pm care all this shit

Your system interface into thier system and pull info out.

Klinik in suburb maybe diff but most clinic I been which are big ones like Lourdes, mediveron blablabla has this

So again? What’s the difficulty and reasoning to increase cost? Coz now your nurse need to key in info ?

I don’t get it


Apakah kepunden ini because like I said, I’ve been getting itemised billing for many years

Now we can see led signboard on klinik…sale 50 percent medicine and doctor consultation

Free market like this is best, honestly it’s so hard to find a good doctor mostly are the locum noob spoil the experience

time to use AI as medical consultant

Can everyone start charging higher price if customer is a doctor?😆

The last time I used my medical card, I know how much each cotton swab costs.

This post has been edited by ReoAyanami: May 21 2025, 11:52 AM

Boss

Those are panel clinic. The system is own by AIA, PM Care, Micare not own by the clinic Clinic is just user of the system.

For those Company Panel & cash payer they still need to invest in a system by or license - still a cost.

Well if they can give itemise billing then no issue boss

Invest into system or manually provide reciept

Both works and meet the requirement

Already price hike 5-10%

Now have to itemize ubat and consultation fee seperately. Hard to set it ngam ngam same price as before. Its either charge less or charge more. The only aensible thing to do...

End of the day see u want go out ur way get prescription instead and buy from pharmacy. Or be like 99.9% sheep just close eyes suck it up and swallow.

Hence increase in pricing with worst case scenario estimation.

No one do work for free so expected increase in charges. - just preempting people only (though i believe the cost is overestimated)

Jangan buat buat terkejut pikacu when price naik.

Perak GPs To Charge Three New Fees
By Boo Su-Lyn | 23 May 2025

Perak is the 5th state to jump on the bandwagon of private GPs introducing new patient charges, with a Perak doctors’ group recommending 3 new fees (prescription, registration, facility fees),
following Sabah, Sarawak, Penang, and potentially Selangor/KL.
https://codeblue.galencentre.org/2025/05/do...three-new-fees/

lol, sure up car later ask gov for money

Doctors fight medicine price rule
By RAGANANTHINI VETHASALAM
Nation
Wednesday, 30 Jul 2025

PETALING JAYA: The medicine price display rule has been challenged in court by several doctors who want the order to be quashed.

The doctors filed for a judicial review, saying the rule hurts small clinics and was introduced without proper consultation.

They want the rule, which took effect on May 1, to be revoked.

The lawsuit named the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister, Health Minister and the Federal Government as the first, second and third respondents, respectively.

The applicants are the Association of Private Practitioners, Sabah (APPS), the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA), the Malaysian Association for the Advancement of Functional and Interdisciplinary Medicine (Maafim), the Organisation of Malaysian Muslim Doctors (Perdim), the Federation of Private Medical Practitioners Associations Malaysia (FPMPAM), the Malaysian Private Dental Practitioners’ Association (MPDPA), the Society of Private Medical Practitioners Sarawak (SPMPS), and one Dr Saifulbahri Ahmad.

The lawsuit was in relation to the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering (Price Marking for Drug) Order 2025, which came into effect on May 1.

The medical practitioners are seeking an order of certiorari to quash the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry’s Price Control and Anti-Profiteering (Price Making for Drug) Order 2025 (ministry’s order).

According to the statement of claim of the suit filed on July 24, they are also seeking a declaration that the ministry’s order was void and tainted with illegality, irrationality, unreasonableness, disproportionality and impropriety.

They asked that the enforcement of the ministry’s order “insofar as its application to private healthcare facilities and/or registered medical practitioners and dentists” be stayed until the judicial review case is over.

Among the grounds for the judicial review is the failure of the government to recognise the difference between drugs sold in retail and drugs administered for treatment purposes.

It added that the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister had breached principles of natural justice by arriving at the decision without consulting registered medical practitioners represented by the MMA.

They said that while the purpose of the regulation was to curb profiteering activities, it has created unwarranted competition among providers of drugs, with the singular denominator purely being the price of drugs.

“This means even small-scale community clinics operated by general practitioners (GPs) and specialists have to now compete with large-scale drug retailers, for example, international chain pharmacies who already enjoy a larger market control and the ability to gain further control of retail customers by selling drugs at a much lower price,” they said.

They added that small-scale community clinics would be at a disadvantage if forced to enter into an unwarranted competition with large-scale pharmaceutical companies.

They said drug prices in clinics are determined by variables such as manufacturers; freight charges; export or import duties; importers; distributors; volume purchased; location of the clinics; different formulations of the same product; provisions for wastage of expired unused drugs; and staff and administrative expenses.

The price display rule was met with much resistance by private healthcare practitioners.

A three-month grace period from May 1 has also been given, where no compounds would be issued and the government would instead focus on advocacy and education.

According to the court’s website, the suit is set for case management at the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Aug 22.

Source: https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2025...cine-price-rule