Three laws take effect from January 1, 2024

Three levels of medical examination and treatment

The Law on Medical Examination and Treatment 2023 consists of 12 chapters and 121 articles.

To strengthen the management of the quality of medical examination and treatment services provided by practitioners and institutionalize the Party's viewpoint on medical examination and treatment, the law has stipulated the expansion of the scope of practice; changed from granting practice licenses based on professional qualifications to granting practice licenses based on professional titles. At the same time, it improves and standardizes the skills of practitioners such as: Changing the method of granting practice licenses from granting practice licenses through reviewing records to requiring a test to assess professional capacity before granting a practice license; stipulating that practice licenses are valid for 5 years and stipulating that updating medical knowledge is one of the conditions for renewing practice licenses.

The Law also stipulates that foreigners practicing long-term in Vietnam and examining and treating Vietnamese people must use Vietnamese fluently in medical examination and treatment, except in some cases of cooperation in exchanging experts, transferring techniques, training; applying electronic prescriptions, electronic medical records and this information must be connected to the Information System on management of medical examination and treatment activities to control and monitor the quality of service provision of practitioners and connect medical examination and treatment results between medical examination and treatment facilities.

The Law has added a provision requiring facilities to self-assess the quality of medical examination and treatment according to the basic quality standards issued by the Ministry of Health on an annual basis and to update the self-assessment results to the Information System on management of medical examination and treatment activities to serve as a basis for inspection, assessment, as well as public information on the quality of medical examination and treatment facilities. Added a provision requiring medical examination and treatment facilities to apply information technology with the aim of gradually connecting medical examination and treatment results, creating convenience for patients, and at the same time, it is also a solution to manage the practice activities of organizations and individuals.

To enhance people's access to medical examination and treatment services, the law has changed from 4 professional levels to 3 professional levels; allowing private clinics in areas with particularly difficult socio-economic conditions to organize beds for monitoring and treating patients but not exceeding 72 hours. Developing remote medical examination and treatment activities to contribute to achieving universal health coverage by improving patients' access to quality, cost-effective medical services anytime, anywhere, especially for less serious, chronic diseases that require long-term and regular care...

Special regulations on bidding in the medical field

The Law on Bidding consists of 10 chapters and 96 articles.

Notably, the law has devoted a separate chapter to regulating bidding in the health sector to resolve difficulties and obstacles in bidding activities for the purchase of drugs, chemicals, testing supplies and medical equipment in the direction of enhancing the autonomy and self-responsibility of public health facilities in deciding to purchase drugs and medical equipment; facilitating the purchase of drugs and medical equipment with specific characteristics, suitable for the professional activities of the health sector.

In addition, resolve the difficulties in bidding for the purchase of drugs, equipment, and medical supplies that have arisen in the past, such as: Supplementing regulations to thoroughly resolve difficulties in purchasing chemicals with the requirement that contractors must provide medical equipment to use those chemicals ("machine-to-order, machine-to-borrow" model); perfecting regulations on drug incentives for domestic production in the direction of both ensuring the rights of patients in accessing good quality drugs and encouraging businesses to invest in technological lines and raw materials to produce quality drugs that meet advanced standards; regulating the payment of costs for purchasing drugs, chemicals, testing supplies, and medical equipment from the health insurance fund for private medical examination and treatment facilities.

Overcoming the “cumulative achievement” reward situation

The Law on Emulation and Commendation 2022 consists of 8 chapters and 96 articles.

The 2022 Law on Emulation and Commendation has 8 main new groups of points, including: Implementing stronger decentralization and delegation of power in emulation and commendation work; Clearly demonstrating the principle of commending to the extent of achievement and promoting the timeliness of forms of commendation according to merit and achievements to overcome the previous situation of rewarding "accumulating achievements, adding up achievements"; bringing the emulation movement towards the grassroots, associated with the implementation of political tasks of localities and units, practical, associated with the interests of those directly participating in emulation, limiting formalities in emulation, ensuring synchronous implementation in 4 stages (discovering, fostering, summarizing and replicating advanced models).

In addition, the law focuses on the content of collective rewards at the grassroots level, workers, farmers, direct laborers, officers and soldiers of the armed forces, militia and self-defense forces..., paying attention to rewards at the grassroots level, remote areas, border areas, and islands; resolving difficulties and problems in rewards in the non-state sector and private economy.

The Law also specifically stipulates the content of rewards for foreigners who have made many contributions to Vietnam; adds the form of resistance reward "Glorious Youth Volunteer Medal"; implements administrative procedure reform, and applies information technology in managing emulation and reward work.