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Price reductions in hearing aids and access to audiologists, Israel.
Lavie, Limor; Bar-Moshe, Tali.
Afiliação
  • Lavie L; Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Haifa, 199 Aba Khoushy Ave. Mount Carmel, Haifa, 3498838, Israel.
  • Bar-Moshe T; Department of Health Policy and Management, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
Bull World Health Organ ; 100(11): 739-743, 2022 Nov 01.
Article em En | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-36324558
ABSTRACT

Problem:

Hearing rehabilitation with hearing aids is a complex process which requires professional expertise and the involvement of audiologists or hearing-care specialists. Professional care, however, requires extra resources, making it tempting to rely solely on technology and reduce the role of professional counselling.

Approach:

To reduce the out-of-pocket share for adults needing hearing rehabilitation, in 2011 the Israeli government tripled the subsidy for adult hearing aids by converting 3 years of subsidies into a triennial, enlarged fund. Regulations for providing hearing rehabilitation and a set of rules for tenders for the supply of hearing aids were issued. Local

setting:

Auditory diagnosis and rehabilitation are included in the Israeli national health insurance system. Before 2011, the annual government-funded subsidy for hearing aids was negligible; hearing aids were expensive and bought mostly with patients' own resources. Relevant changes A series of tenders for companies to supply hearing aids, aiming to control public and individual expenses, resulted in a large reduction in prices, which in turn raised the demand for hearing aids and increased public expenditure. As the price of hearing aids fell markedly, hearing rehabilitation is approaching a point of becoming limited to supplying hearing devices, while reducing the importance placed on professional elements of the rehabilitation course. Lessons learnt Lowering out-of-pocket costs for patients should not be the only consideration in hearing rehabilitation. Our goal should be to control public expenditure but also provide affordable hearing aids with sufficient intervention of hearing-care specialists, to ensure access to advanced technologies and proper professional care.
Assuntos

Texto completo: 1 Base de dados: MEDLINE Assunto principal: Auxiliares de Audição / Perda Auditiva Tipo de estudo: Diagnostic_studies / Health_economic_evaluation Limite: Adult / Humans País como assunto: Asia Idioma: En Ano de publicação: 2022 Tipo de documento: Article

Texto completo: 1 Base de dados: MEDLINE Assunto principal: Auxiliares de Audição / Perda Auditiva Tipo de estudo: Diagnostic_studies / Health_economic_evaluation Limite: Adult / Humans País como assunto: Asia Idioma: En Ano de publicação: 2022 Tipo de documento: Article