TIRANA, Jan. 30 – A proposed hike in dental service fees has caused a nationwide stir in the past few days with authorities initiating legal action and suspending new minimum fees proposed by the Albanian Order of Dentists as running against its powers and distorting competition in a privately-run sector.
The proposed minimum fees for common dental services sparked public anger after initial media reports that dentists in Tirana were applying new rates almost twice higher following a mid-December 2018 decision by the Order of Dentists, a public entity tasked with defending dentists’ interests and protecting patients from ill-treatment that financially relies on membership and licensing fees for its operation.
The country’s health ministry has initiated legal action against the Order of Dentists, demanding the cancellation of its proposed minimum tariffs and the Competition Authority launched an enquiry this week to check whether the fees were affecting market completion.
Reacting to the situation, the Order of Dentists said the reference prices it had approved were simply orienting and not binding and were set to alert patients that prices below its proposed minimum fees “put their health at risk by dentists whose main criteria is making a profit.”
New minimum fees proposed by the Order of Dentist range from 3,000 lek (€24) for teeth cleaning to 4,000 to 5,000 lek (€32 to €40) for fillings and up to 70,000 lek (€560) for dental implants, almost double compared to average current fees.
In its December 14, 2018 decision, the Order of Dentists said it would propose the new minimum fees to the finance ministry so that they are applied as reference prices for tax purposes when issuing tax receipts in a market where more than 90 percent of clinics are privately run.
The Albanian competition watchdog said the decision ran counter to the protection of competition, ordering its immediate suspension and initiating a probe to check if there is any market distortion.
Dental clinics are a booming business in Albania and also attract foreigners in a small but growing segment of medical tourism taking advantage of Albania’s relatively cheap prices and good quality.
Albanians in Italy and Greece, the hosts of around 1 million Albanian migrants, also regularly repair their teeth at home when on vacation and even travel on purpose to have major repairs such as bridges, implants and cosmic dentistry to take advantage of both price and quality.
