Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
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Question 152: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if an analysis has been carried out on the relative cost of treatments under the National Treatment Purchase Fund as compared with similar treatments in public hospitals; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24014/07]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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Cost comparisons between the public and private hospital sectors are difficult to make. For example, private hospital costs and prices include capital costs in the form of depreciation whereas in the public hospitals these are funded separately and are excluded from Casemix averages. Also, public hospitals carry an additional cost in that they cater for training and education of medical and nursing personnel.

Obtaining value for the Exchequer for funding allocated to the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) is a key priority for the NTPF Board. Over the years, the NTPF has built up checks and balances to ensure that its rates are competitive and suitable for the circumstances. The checks and balances employed include comparing the price that the NTPF is offered by a private hospital to:—

Prices available to NTPF in other private hospitals.

Costs quoted in the latest available Casemix data.

Prices quoted by private insurers (for example,VHI).

A projected price built up from the NTPF's knowledge of the likely constituent costs of a particular treatment (e.g. estimating likely fees, accommodation, tests, etc).

Occasionally, international data on treatment prices.

The Fund operates on an input-output basis. That is, for a known resource the NTPF can quantify the volume of service provided and the costs of each patient episode is known. Casemix, the mechanism used for costing in the public hospital system, provides the cost of treating patients with similar conditions rather than the cost of a particular procedure.