The Tribune

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

SIGNS posted in the Accident and Emergency Department at the Princess Margaret Hospital over the weekend that indicated patients would be charged a $250 service fee have been removed, according to the Public Hospitals Authority yesterday.

Judy Terrell-Hamilton, PHA director of communications, said the notice advising that all patients registering at the A&E Department will be charged for nursing and ancillary fees, was inconsistent with the current fee schedule.

“The posted notices are not consistent with the fee schedule, and they have subsequently been removed,” she said.

She was unable to respond to requests for further information up to press time.

A source within the PHA explained that the notice and subsequent charge was designated for non-nationals and private patients.

However, leading surgeon and the FNM’s candidate for Elizabeth Dr Duane Sands said yesterday that there were still many unanswered questions concerning the posting.

“These signs posted in the Emergency Department said nothing about foreign or private patients and there are so many questions that the public ought to be asking,” he said.

“While we would accept the official position that this was an error, and that it was never intended for the general public, the question arises well even if it was only for foreign patients and private patients, who determines who is a private patient? And who determines who is foreign?

“Does that mean if you come into the Emergency Room you need to take your passport?”

Dr Sands questioned whether there has been a change in the gazetted fees for patients, and whether it was equitable to have different fees for patients with private insurance.

“Is it right and is it fair to say that if you have private insurance, that you now have to pay $250 and everyone only 10?” he asked. “Well isn’t everybody paying tax?

“Are we attempting to push private patients and foreign patients out of the PMH? When did this policy come up, who approved it, when was the public going to be aware of it, did the minister know about it, the managing director, who knew about it or did these signs appear miraculously?”

Dr Sands said that PMH’s administrative arm was “living in a silo” if it could not appreciate the sensitivity of the matter in the context of the longstanding debate on National Health Insurance (NHI).

“Retracting was the appropriate first step,” Dr Sands added, “however there are a lot of explanations that are due to the public.”

In an internal PHA memo, under the heading “Public Hospitals Authority - New Revenue 2014/2015,” service fees for non-residents and residents with insurance coverage were listed as part of the authority’s efforts to enhance revenue.

The letter, purported to be signed by PHA Managing Director Herbert Brown, acknowledged that the PHA derived most of its revenue from service charges to private and self-paid patients, with the highest percentage of revenue collected from insurance reimbursements.

“Clearly then,” the letter continued, “greater focus must be given to revenue enhancement as the outlay from the central government cannot keep pace with the growing health needs and the decline of budgetary allocation.”