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Private-hospital owners are opposing a bill that seeks
to increase the discount privilege of senior citizens,
saying that such a move may drain their resources.
In a
letter to Congress, the Private Hospitals Association of
the Philippines Inc. (PHAP) said House Bill 677 that
increases the discount of elders from 20 percent to 30
percent should have a corresponding fund to compensate
medical facilities for the markdown extended to senior
citizens.
“We
believe that funding is an essential component if this
bill is passed into law as this has a significant impact
on the viability of hospitals,” said Dr. Rustico
Jimenez, PHAP president, in a letter to Rep. Reynaldo Uy,
chairman of the Committee on Population and Family
Relations at the House of Representatives.
Jimenez
said private-health facilities incorporate a certain
margin in their pricing scheme to cover nonearning
departments, such as linen and laundry, housekeeping,
dietary, maintenance and other essential support units.
He said
the operation of these units depend on revenue centers
in the hospital, such as diagnostic units and pharmacy.
“If
hospitals are further required to extend more discounts
to its patients, the margin that is supposed to cover
for the costs of the nonrevenue units would be reduced.
The effect is quite substantial since senior citizens
avail themselves of hospital services more than the
other age groups,” said the PHAP letter.
Jimenez
mentioned a “quick survey” he did in one hospital which
showed that senior citizens comprised half of patients
who avail themselves of medical services, such as
aerosol therapy, abdominal ultrasound, chest X-ray and
medicine prescriptions compared with other age groups.
He
offered to do more surveys to justify his findings.
“Given
the composition of service utilization illustrated, the
additional discount to senior citizens would
considerably reduce the income of the hospital. The
hospital may recover some of the costs by considerably
increasing its rates but the prices might already become
prohibitive to most of its patients,” said Jimenez.
He added
that the bill would seriously affect private hospitals’
“viability” if no external funding is provided to cover
the additional 10-percent senior citizens’ discount.
Early
this year, the PHAP also joined other medical societies
in opposing the “generics-only” provision of the
cheaper-medicines law. They said that banning the
prescription of branded drugs would only be
disadvantageous to patients since they “work better”
than generic medicines. |
