Government auditors have asked Mandaue City Mayor Luigi Quisumbing to direct the Mandaue City Hospital to intensify its efforts to collect at least P15.4 million in unpaid hospital bills of patients in 2016 to 2017.
According to the Commission on Audit’s (COA) annual report for 2017, the Mandaue City Hospital was unable to collect hospital bills amounting to P15,441,496.84 from patients, “thereby preventing the City from earning additional income and recovering or minimizing the cost of health services rendered.”
“We recommend that the city mayor direct the collection team of the hospital to intensify its collection efforts by sending demand letters on their unpaid bills with the hospital,” the COA report read.
COA also found that the “unpaid bills were not recorded in the city’s books of accounts thus understating the Receivables account of the city.”
“Moreover, the collectibility of the claims is doubtful since only an average of 11 percent was paid for the two-year period,” COA said.
State auditors recommended to send separate letters to the barangay captains of the places where the patients with unpaid bills lived, to request their assistance in collecting the unsettled bills.
Mandaue City Legal Officer lawyer James Allan Sayson was also asked by COA to also look into the matter and come up with the necessary legal action against patients, especially those who have the capacity to pay their hospitalization expenses with the government-owned hospital.
“We also recommend that the City Legal Officer of the City Government of Mandaue initiate legal action against those patients who have the capacity to pay their bills,” said COA.
The city accountant was asked to trace the unrecorded receivables from 2010.