The publication of fees is an area of private healthcare which has traditionally lacked transparency. In their investigation into the UK private healthcare market, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) noted that while hospitals publish fees, where the consultant do not this represented hidden costs for patients. To rectify this the CMA made specific remedies (Article 22 of the Private Healthcare Markets Investigation Order2014) for PHIN to publish consultant fees.

With the Federation of Independent Practitioner Organisation’s appeals process now exhausted, the CMA launched a consultation earlier this year to inform the implantation. PHIN has responded to this consultation, to give our view on the appropriate timeline for implementation.

PHIN strongly believes that the publication of fees the right thing to do, however there are serious complexities to be properly worked through first to ensure what is published is valuable to patients and fair for consultants, hospitals, and insurers. As such, our submission to the CMA calls for sufficient time to consult with consultant groups and stakeholders across the sector to a build broad support for implementation.