At a recent conference on healthcare service delivery for 2026 organized by the Ministry of Health, Nguyen Huy Luong, deputy director of the Department of Medical Services Administration, noted that in recent years Vietnam’s healthcare sector has made strong progress, particularly in information technology adoption and digital transformation.

Many advanced medical techniques such as robotic surgery, proton radiotherapy, and cardiovascular interventions are now being deployed in Vietnam.

However, while medical expertise continues to improve, hospital fee collection procedures at many medical facilities are still outdated.

Currently, at most hospitals, from public to private and from provincial to central levels, patients still have to pay fees in advance. This occurs even for those with health insurance cards, despite the directives requesting the cessation of advance collection and the reduction of administrative procedures in medical examination and treatment. 

For inpatients, a course of treatment usually lasts a relatively long time and incurs many expenses. Patients must wait to undergo tests and techniques, and then continue to wait to pay additional hospital fees. 

For cases involving high-cost treatments such as surgery, cardiovascular intervention, or stenting, the amount can reach hundreds of millions of VND. 

“In many cases, though patients have money in their bank accounts, they cannot follow procedures to make payment themselves because they are in hospital and are not in good health conditions to do this,” Luong said.

Prior to that, the Ministry of Health issued a set of hospital quality criteria, which stipulated that the collection of hospital fees must be convenient, public, and transparent; patients could be provided with virtual payment accounts, pay hospital fees once upon discharge, or even guarantee by credit cards. However, in reality, these regulations have not been widely implemented.

Effectiveness of 'Treat First, Pay Later'

In such conditions, Luong believes that the medical fee guarantee portal is a humane and appropriate solution. The model allows patients to be admitted without worrying about immediate payment, eliminates repeated advance and refund procedures, and gives patients greater financial flexibility, even in high-cost cases.

A notable feature of the hospital fee guarantee model is its flexibility and community-based nature. One person can guarantee fees for multiple others; conversely, a single patient can be guaranteed by multiple people. If each guarantor contributes a small amount, the combined sum can be sufficient to cover expensive treatments, helping share risks and support one another within the community.

In Hanoi, Ha Dong General Hospital has piloted the model. Nguyen Thanh Vinh, director of the hospital, said that 70 percent of service-based patients use the medical fee guarantee. 

Processing time at reception and cashier counters fell by about 30 percent, with significant reductions in advance payment and refund times. The model did not disrupt overall hospital operations, and patient and family satisfaction reached 100 percent in on-site surveys.

Most patients appreciated the convenience of not having to queue repeatedly for advance payments. Family members felt more reassured after registering guarantees, while patients only needed to use the guarantee to complete admission procedures.

For hospitals, the model significantly reduces workloads for cashier and accounting departments. Payment processes are automated, errors are minimized, and system operations remain stable without affecting medical services.

According to Vinh, individuals can register hospital fee guarantees with participating banks based on selected credit limits. One account can guarantee fees for multiple family members or friends. 

When the guaranteed person enters the hospital and is on the system list, financial services support the payment process, freezing and releasing money according to valid requests from the system, contributing to completing the hospital fee payment cycle within the framework of the Medical Fee Payment Guarantee Portal.

The Ministry of Health is currently piloting the model with one bank and plans to expand cooperation with more banks in the near future, making guarantees more convenient and accessible. One person can stand as guarantor for hospital fees for the entire family.

Phuong Thuy