Re: Practice Cost Studies (“PCS”) -2017

The South African Medical Association (SAMA) has after an open bidding process, commissioned Healthman, PPO Serve and Medical Practice Consulting (MPC) to conduct a Practice Cost Study (PCS) on General Practitioners and Specialists in private practice on behalf of the organisation and its members. The purpose of the PCS is to conduct and publish a study into the actual costs associated with the running of a private medical practice in 2017.

SAMA’s involvement in the PCS is limited to that of a funder – the entire PCS is conducted independently of SAMA, its board, its member committees, its members and/or any staff employed by SAMA. The crux of the PCS is that it is conducted by independent third parties. The segregation of the PCS function from SAMA ensures that the results are free from interests within certain specialities or groups and provides for fair representation of research results.

The results of the PCS will be used to establish the health of private medical practices in South Africa and whether it can be expected that our private medical doctors will be able to operate sustainably in the future without intervention.

We urge all medical doctors practicing in the private healthcare sector of South Africa to participate in the 2017 PCS.