Prescribed Minimum Benefits complaints: a five-year retrospective review.

Background: No matter which benefit option members have chosen, medical schemes are required by the Medical Schemes Act no. 131 of 1998 to pay costs associated with the diagnosis, treatment, or care of a specified set of benefits known as Prescribed Minimum Benefits (PMBs). Medical scheme beneficiaries have the right to lodge complaints with the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) when their claims are denied.

Prescribed Minimum Benefits complaints: a five-year retrospective review.

Background: No matter which benefit option members have chosen, medical schemes are required by the Medical Schemes Act no. 131 of 1998 to pay costs associated with the diagnosis, treatment, or care of a specified set of benefits known as Prescribed Minimum Benefits (PMBs). Medical scheme beneficiaries have the right to lodge complaints with the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) when their claims are denied.

Self-Management of Diabetes and Associated Factors among Patients Seeking Chronic Care in Tshwane, South Africa: A Facility-Based Study.

The burden of diabetes continues to increase in South Africa and a significant number of diabetes patients present at public primary healthcare facilities with uncontrolled glucose. We conducted a facility-based cross-sectional study to determine the diabetes self-management practices and associated factors among out-patients in Tshwane, South Africa. An adapted validated questionnaire was used to collect data on sociodemography, diabetes knowledge, and summaries of diabetes self-management activities measured in the previous seven days, and over the last eight weeks.

High risk of occult hepatitis B virus infection in HIV-positive patients from South Africa.

This was a retrospective, unmatched case control, laboratory-based study, investigating the impact of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection on the outcome of routine laboratory detection of HBsAg and prevalence of active HBV infection in 295 samples from 167 HIV-positive and 128 HIV-negative patients. The samples were tested for HBV (HBsAg, anti-HBc, anti-HBs, HBeAg and anti-HBe) and anti-HIV 1 and 2 (Axsym assays, Abbott Laboratories), as part of routine diagnosis. A nested PCR assay, with detection limit of 800 copies/ml and employing independent sets of primers to core and surface genes, was used to investigate HBV DNA.