Mongkutwattana Hospital has suspended services for universal healthcare cardholders transferred to the hospital from their primary care units, over an overdue debt owed by the National Health Security Office.
The hospital's director and owner, Dr Rienthong Nanna, said in a Facebook post recently the NHSO has yet to reimburse the costs incurred by patients who were referred to the hospital by their primary care units, which have reached over 20 million baht.
Dr Rienthong said the costs incurred by transfer patients should be shouldered by their primary care units, as per the NHSO's declaration on the OP-Refer and OP-Anywhere policies on March 1.
However, because of a change in policy in July, the hospital has not been able to get the NHSO to cover the specialist doctor fees incurred by such patients, resulting in over 20 million baht in unpaid fees.
This is in addition to the 30 million baht owed to the hospital by primary care units over the past several months, which has strained the hospital's liquidity, he said.
Describing the situation as a "crisis", Dr Rienthong said the hospital has decided to cease providing treatments to universal healthcare cardholders who were transferred to the hospital from other primary care units from Nov 1, until the situation is resolved.
"The services will resume as soon as the debt is paid by the NHSO," he said, adding the agency should keep its promise as originally announced in March, not July.
He suggested that NHSO allow more patients to register directly with the hospital, as under the current rules, most universal healthcare subscribers must seek treatment at their local health units first.
This will limit the impact of late payments from primary care units on the hospital's liquidity, he said.
"Unless the debt is paid by the NHSO, we are afraid that over 200,000 transferred patients from other primary care units won't be able to access further medical treatment at the hospital," he said.