Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / The South African healthcare industry has undergone numerous changes over the last two
decades in both the public and private sectors. These changes have influenced the regulatory
landscape of both sectors with the aim of improving accessibility to healthcare services and
providers, and making healthcare more affordable for the South African public. The South African
government introduced the Medical Schemes Act No. 131 of 1998, in response to issues faced in
the medical scheme industry.
The act allowed for a board of trustees to regulate medical schemes in their governance (McIntyre,
Thiede, Nkosi, Mutyambizi, Castilo-Riquelme, Gilson, Erasmus & Goudge, 2007). The main aim
was to ensure medical schemes were able to maintain solvency levels and maintain benefits
offered to beneficiaries. The pharmaceutical industry saw legislative changes governing the pricing
of medicines, generic substitution of medicines and open ownership of pharmacies. The
researcher aimed to provide the medical scheme industry with valuable insight into the challenges
experienced by pharmacists, when processing and submitting claims for medical scheme members
and their beneficiaries.
The intention was to enable the medical scheme industry to improve service quality and efficiency
in provider relationships, and customer relationships. The research consisted of qualitative and
quantitative research methods. A focus group interview consisted of the initial phase, producing
qualitative data. The researcher utilised the qualitative data to construct an online questionnaire,
which he then sent out through email, to a larger group of retail pharmacists in KwaZulu-Natal.
The majority of retail pharmacists who participated in the research had a limited knowledge of all
medical schemes and the different options available in South Africa. The majority of pharmacists in
both groups were of the opinion that the redesigning and simplification of computer programmes,
utilised for submitting prescriptions, would improve efficiency in service delivery. The research
further found that the dissemination of information, on a variety of topics, from medical schemes to
their members and service providers, should improve to increase efficiency in service delivery and
foster better relationships.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:sun/oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/96201 |
| Date | 12 1900 |
| Creators | Pillay, Yogindren |
| Contributors | De Klerk, H., Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Graduate School of Business. |
| Publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en_ZA |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | x, 85 p. |
| Rights | Stellenbosch University |
Page generated in 0.002 seconds