THE ISLAND'S two largest hospitals are facing a pile-up of unpaid medical bills, which officials say they hope to clear by implementing tighter collection programmes.
Chief Executive Officer of the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) Karl Davis, and his counterpart at the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH), Errold Beckford, yesterday confirmed that their institutions have been severely affected by non-payment of medical bills and will be stepping up efforts to collect from patients.
They were reacting to yesterday's Gleaner report that the management at Cornwall Regional Hospital (CRH) was threatening to publish the names of patients who owe more than $5,000, as a means of collecting the over $100 million debt accumulated over the last three years. A newspaper advertisement published by CRH officials also notified members of the public, that the medical facility was offering a 5% discount to persons who settle debts to the institution by June 30.
Mr. Davis said the debts to the UHWI date back as far as the 1980s, with the accumulated figure in the region of $600 million. He said approximately half of this was incurred in the last three years. He noted that the hospital has not written off the other $300 million and will be doing its best to recover it.
In January, the UHWI enlisted the services of a collection agency in its debt recovery efforts, and will be providing further information to the collectors to help them track down persons with outstanding bills.
"I don't think we will be going the route of publishing names like Cornwall," Mr. Davis said.
An in-house programme to make direct contact with the debtors via telephone and letters is also being worked on.
At KPH, CEO Errol Beckford said his institution has been attempting to use moral suasion to recover the over $50 million debt which has accumulated over the last two years, but with little success.
"We've been reminding our patients that Government has just invested three-quarter billion for improved facilities here, which is all for their benefit, and that their hospital fees are highly subsidised," he explained.
"We've not been as successful as we would have hoped with that approach."
He said "stringent measures" to ensure debt collection were on the cards, but declined to give details at this stage.
Mr. Beckford noted that the debt pile-up is taking its toll on the hospital's day-to-day operations, particularly in the purchase of pharmaceuticals and in maintaining the physical plant.
"We need the money to assist with resources to enable patient care and pay for goods and services," he said.
Stressing that no one was denied medical treatment because of inability to pay hospital fees, Mr. Beckford said debt collection was sometimes done when patients with unsettled bills returned to the facility for further treatment.
