A TOTAL of $79.2 million in uncollected payments from patients, the government and other private entities covering a five-year period has been taking its toll on the Commonwealth Health Center’s operations, according to acting Health Secretary Pete Untalan.
This huge amount of “receivables” are from fiscal year 1996 to Dec. 31, 2001.
Untalan yesterday said that if all these “receivables” are collected, the Department of Public Health would not have to be suffering financially. DPH is facing a projected $13-million budget deficit for FY 2002.
Untalan said the failure of the government and private entities to pay their bills has not only forced CHC to cut operational costs and hold off salary hikes for deserving medical personnel, but has also resulted in the strict “prioritizing” of purchasing — from medical supplies to office equipment.
“They are not paying us. This is limiting our budget and our operations are obviously affected,” said Untalan.
Collecting payments from CHC clients has proven to be difficult in recent years.
Between FY 1999 and 2001, the hospital was able to collect only a total of $35.9 million, according to Untalan.
“But if you compare the annual figure since FY 1999, CHC has been doing progress,” he said.
In FY 1999, CHC collected $8 million. The following fiscal year, the government hospital was able to collect $11.8 million.
By the end of FY 2001, CHC collected $16.1 million.
Untalan said CHC aims to collect $16.7 million by the end of FY 2002.
However, if a new agreement between the Group Health and Life Insurance Plan and the Hawaii Pacific Medical Referrals works, then CHC may be able to collect $19 million by the end of this fiscal year.
“We have a revenue enhancement plan in place and we will work hard to collect more so that we will be able to operate better,” said Untalan.
Non-paying entities
As of end-2001, Medicaid owes CHC a total of $27.9 million. Medicaid’s debt accounts for 35 percent of the $79.2 million unpaid bills.
The government-run GHLIP — which is under the auspices of the NMI Retirement Fund — is yet to settle its $24.2 million obligation to CHC, while a total of $9.6 million in “receivables” has been referred to a collection agency.
CHC has also yet to collect a total of $8.5 million from self-paying patients, while $2.9 million in “receivables” are yet to be collected from private companies, particularly employers of non-resident workers.
Medicare has also yet to pay CHC $2.4 million in past services.
Other government agencies owe CHC $1.9 million, while commercial insurance firms still have $1.3 million in unpaid accounts.
“If you take a close look, Medicaid and the government owe the biggest amount to CHC. The private sector owes only a little, and that figure may only be recent accounts,” said Untalan.
