Profmed said to be performing well on all fronts
Speaking after the release of the Profmed 2008 Annual Report earlier in June 2009, principal officer Graham Anderson, said that he was pleased with the performance of the medical scheme during the period under review on a number of strategic fronts.
He said that although Profmed was registered as a medical scheme in 1969, hospital and nursing home benefits had been available to members from 1959. This would make the company one of the oldest and most experienced medical schemes in South Africa.
‘Once again, we achieved an unconditional audit, thanks to high standards of governance and expertise of management. Furthermore, our global credit rating with international rating agency Global Credit Ratings remains at A+, he said.
‘Our in-house broker consultancy division has ensured that we experienced continued positive membership growth during the 2008 financial year.
‘Our members will be reassured to know that our reserve portfolio is 75% invested in cash or cash equivalents. This strategy has minimized the impact of the global economic crisis on Profmed's investments.
‘Administration costs for 2008 have been calculated at 12.84%, which is in line with the industry average, but above the Council for Medical Schemes ideal level of 10% or below.
Anderson announced that the scheme has entered into designated service provider agreements for psychiatry hospital services and cataract surgery. Members will have to use the services of National Hospital Network range of hospitals for psychiatry admissions, while SANCA remains the designated service provider for alcohol and drug rehabilitation.
National Hospital Network is a National Hospital Network's members include 79 independent private hospitals, including a well-distributed footprint of geographically well situated psychiatric clinics. The group represents almost 20% of the private sector beds. Life Healthcare, NHN and Netcare have been contracted to provide hospitalization in respect of cataract surgery.
Should members receive services outside the DSP networks, Profmed will reimburse claims at the rate charged by the DSP networks and only the balance will be for the account of the member.
‘We have also improved our interactive website, which offers members services such as the tracking of claims, viewing used and available benefits, viewing tax deductible contributions and co-payments, locating nearest service providers and so on,' he said.
‘We remain the medical scheme of choice for graduate professionals,' he said.
