
Is an Ambulance Service Required to Register as a Credit Provider?
According to the National Credit Regulator (NCR), an entity is only considered to be a credit provider in terms of the National Credit Act if it is any of the following: (a) the party who supplies goods or services un...

Use of Point of Sale Terminals by Ambulance Services
A point of sale terminal is an electronic device used to process card payments from a customer to a provider. The point of sale terminal is typically used to process payments made with either a credit or debit card. Th...

The necessity of onboard heating and cooling systems in an ambulance
The necessity of onboard heating and cooling systems in an ambulance Private ambulance services in South Africa are not only expected to offer quality clinical care to patients, they are expected to offer such care i...

Medical insurance policies vs medical aid schemes
What is a medical insurance policy, and how does it compare to a medical aid scheme? Medical aid schemes are governed by the Medical Schemes Act and the Council for Medical Schemes. These schemes are required to comp...

Paying commission for patient recommendations
Paying another person, either directly or indirectly, in order to recommend patients to your healthcare practice or ambulance service, is in direct contradiction with the Guidelines for Good Practice in the Healthcare P...

Managing cash flow in a hostile administrative environment
There can be no doubt that the administration of the claims of one ambulance private ambulance service by a competing private ambulance is potentially anti-competitive. However, in the absence of intervention by auth...

Effective internal training
The need for an effective internal training program with an ongoing staff evaluation process cannot be emphasised enough. As healthcare practices that are regularly servicing a medical aid and private patient market,...

2016: A year in review
2016 has been a difficult year for the South African economy. The value of the Rand has been extremely volatile and the has drifted between anything from R18.90 per US Dollar to R13.20 per US Dollar. Those fluctuatio...

Negotiating a sustainable tariff for your ambulance service
It needs to be emphasised private ambulance service owners or managers remain responsible for the final negotiation and acceptance of tariffs for the coming year. While many medical aid scheme representatives may rel...