WITH?PRIVATE PATIENTS still leaving big bills behind at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH), the administration is getting agressive at recovering what’s owed, again turning to debt collectors to help get oustanding monies.
This follows a slowdown in the amount of money coming in earlier this year.
Chief executive officer (CEO) Dr Dexter James has confirmed to the SUNDAY SUN that the hospital will be using debt-collection agencies to recover amounts outstanding in excess of 90 days.
Since April, he said, the QEH has recorded a decline in collections. This is after a significant increase was seen in the period following a three-month amnesty offered in 2010.
James said the June 1 to August 31 amnesty, which gave private patients with outstanding balances the opportunity to pay off their debts completely or set up payment plans, created a momentum that lasted into this year. However, that flow of payments has ebbed.
“We were encouraged by the response to the amnesty. For the period following the amnesty up to March 2011, we made tremendous strides in our collection efforts, with our collections rate increasing from 48 per cent before the amnesty to 64 per cent,” he said.
“Conversely, since April 2011 we have been experiencing a decline in our collections. The rate for July 2011 was between 38 and 39 per cent.”
During that period, the CEO said, a new trend was also observed. More people were making payments on their accounts, but the amounts were small in relation to their overall bills.
“This reduction in payment amounts we have attributed to the difficult economic position in which patients have found themselves,” James said.
“Of note, however, there has been a change in goodwill towards people wanting to pay up on their outstanding accounts.”
The QEH’s effort to strengthen its collection mechanism and minimize bad debts includes a new deposit policy for private patients that will take effect on Tuesday, November 1.
Explaining the reason for the new policy last Thursday, Minister of Health Donville Inniss said the QEH had subsidized private care to the tune of $4 million annually and could no longer continue doing so.
He said patients had been making small deposits, leaving the hospital, and not paying the debt. Yet, he complained, they were being readmitted and the new bills added to old balances.