Hospital Financial Crisis Analysis: Prof. Peter Yuen Highlights Staff and Resource Integration as Key

Affected by financial pressure, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Medical Centre has once again applied to the government for a three-year extension on its loan repayment. The hospital also plans to increase the proportion of insured patients and introduce package fees to boost revenue. Prof. Peter Yuen, a renowned scholar in health economics and Dean of PolyU CPCE, pointed out that allocating resources to private hospitals is "unrealistic” and noted that the current lump-sum funding model for public hospitals is inefficient. He suggested integrating resources and staff under a single department to enhance the efficiency of healthcare resource utilisation.

In a recent interview with Hong Kong Economic Times, Prof. Yuen analysed the financial challenges faced by CUHK Medical Centre. He highlighted that, due to an aging population and the limited number of beds in private hospitals, private hospitals should ideally be able to accommodate more patients. However, the relatively high costs have driven some patients to seek medical treatment in mainland China instead. As a result, despite the large number of patients in Hong Kong, private hospitals have struggled to convert this into a sufficient customer base.

Currently, public hospitals rely on the government's lump-sum funding, but the efficiency of this model remains suboptimal. Prof. Yuen proposed consolidating resources and manpower under a unified department to improve the effectiveness of healthcare resource allocation.