Friday, May 25, 2007 Private hospitals defer 'holiday' protest
* Law v. 'detaining' patients defended
THE Department of Health (DOH) on Thursday convinced the Private Hospital Association of the Philippines (PHAP) not to push through with its planned "hospital holiday" in protest of Republic Act (RA) 9439 or the Patients' Illegal Detention Act on Friday.
PHAP executive director Edlane Ulama said they have decided to defer holding their protest after they had a dialogue with DOH officials regarding RA 9439 wherein they were told that the new law would not be implemented immediately pending the drafting and approval of its implementing rules and regulations (IRR).
Health Undersecretary Alex Padilla, who sat in the dialogue with PHAP, said the group reacted prematurely to the law since the IRR has yet to drafted.
The PHAP is composed of 300 private medical facilities that include first-class hospitals such as St. Luke's Medical Center, Asian Hospital, Makati Medical
Center, among others.
RA 9439 prohibits the detention by hospitals of patients who fail to settle their bills.
Senator Pilar Juliana "Pia" Cayetano said on Thursday "serves the greater purpose of safeguarding the people's health and well-being."
She said the new law "will not drive private hospitals into bankruptcy as hospital owners fear, since it will actually open different payment schemes to allow financially distressed patients to settle their hospital bills within reasonable bounds."
Cayetano, chairperson of the Senate committee on health and demography, clarified that RA 9439 is not meant to excuse patients from paying but only prohibits hospitals from prolonging the detention of patients on grounds of non-payment of their hospital or medical expenses.
She assured that the new law incorporates safeguards that would prevent patients from abusing its provisions at the expense of the hospitals' own financial survival.
Cayetano said the new law applies only to charity patients and does not cover those in private rooms. This is in response to PHAP's warning that the law will be abused by patients masquerading as indigents to avoid payment or indigents who would register on purpose as paying patients.
She also said the law also does not prohibit hospitals from imposing different payment schemes for patients admitted in private rooms and that other possible sources of funds may still be tapped to cover for unpaid bills.
"I share the view that the problem of unpaid hospital bills is but a symptom of a bigger crisis in the health sector that could be dealt with more comprehensively, not only through legislation, but through health sector reforms."
Prior to the dialogue with the DOH, the PHAP was planning to stage a "hospital holiday" every third Friday of the month in protest of RA 9439, which the group described as "disadvantageous to private health facilities."
Ulama said out of 10 patients who would issue a promissory note, only one comes back to settle hospital bills. She added that private facilities could not also rely on the Philippine Health Insurance Corporations (Philhealth) since it takes six months before the government settles its dues. (CPB/MSN/Sunnex)
