Private hospitals set to hike fees; Palace seeks Congress intervention

Private hospitals have defied government’s reminder and pushed through Tuesday with their plan to hike their service fees, which they indicated may last for at least six months.

The Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines (PHAP) said they are left with no choice but to raise fees to recover their losses from a 50-percent slash in prices of 21 medicines.

“We are asking for the public’s understanding, to bear with us for about six months,” PHAP lawyer Bu Castro said, adding it is a better move than retrenching workers or closing down in-house pharmacies.

He said the six-month period is the time when hospitals expect to recover their losses stemming from price cuts on some medicines.

Castro also said the fee hike is on a case-to-case basis and will not necessarily be 10 percent.

As the government cannot compel private hospitals to disclose their financial statements to justify the recent increase in their administrative fees, Deputy Presidential Spokesman Lorelie Fajardo said the Palace is encouraging lawmakers to look into the issue of regulating private hospitals.

She said the government would not force hospitals to disclose business information, preferring to persuade them to work closely with the government.

Fajardo said, “The government move has to be persuasive. They [hospitals] have to justify to the public the reason for the increase. I think it is also their moral and social obligation not to immediately increase certain fees . . . And on our part, we would do everything we can to also talk to them so that we can properly implement the Cheaper Medicines Law.”

The current increase in hospital fees would be a good issue for congress to investigate it to come up with a good legislation, she said.

“At this time we have a lot of restrictions and the government can only impose limited sanctions,” Fajardo added.

Last week, Malacañang reminded hospitals against increasing their fees to recover their supposed “losses” stemming from the 50-percent cut in the prices of essential medicines.

In a separate interview, Health Secretary Francisco Duque 3rd expressed doubt that hospitals are indeed losing revenues since there are thousands of medicines that have not been subjected to the price slash.

“It’s impossible the hospitals are losing business because they operate other businesses apart from selling medicines . . . They operate canteens and other forms of services inside the hospital,” Duque said in Tagalog.

“They have to open their books to show they are really losing revenues,” he said further.

Cabinet Secretary Silvestre Bello 3rd also said in a radio interview on Tuesday that “hospitals are not a losing business.”

“Their buildings alone cost billions. I don’t know why they have to pass on the burden to patients. The private hospital owners should think twice and show some compassion for patients,” Bello said.

Health Undersecretary Alexander Padilla earlier warned the PHAP its members may suffer from sanctions.

Padilla said these hospitals might not be able to get their PhilHealth reimbursements apart from being required to open their books to prove they are losing income.

On Monday, PHAP President Rustico Jimenez said private hospitals could not cope with the 50-percent slash in medicine prices. He said pharmaceutical firms’ failure to give rebates to hospitals that bought medicines at pre-slashed prices contributed to their plight.  –Angelo S. Samonte and Francis Earl Cueto, Reporters, Manila Times