Prov’l hospitals’ billing and claim sections ‘inefficient’

By: Gerome Dalipe

STATE auditors scored the Iloilo Provincial Government for failing to properly establish procedures in the billing and claim sections of its 11 district hospitals and a provincial health facility.

The auditors, in their 2018 annual report, said the Provincial Government’s controls, policies, and procedures in its subsidized hospitals’ billing and claim sections were not correctly implemented.

Likewise, the Capitol-run hospitals failed to observe the policies and procedures provided in the Manual of Organization and Management of the Administrative and Finance Service for Hospitals.

“This resulted in the inefficient billing process and exposing the hospital’s operations to the risk that revenues for all services rendered may not be accounted and properly collected,” read the Commission on the Audit report.

The Provincial Government is subsidizing 11 district hospitals and the Western Visayas Medical Center in Mandurriao district.

In their report, the state auditors asked the governor to direct the Hospital Management Office and the hospital administration to review the existing processes in the billing and collection sections.

The auditors also want the hospital management to update their existing policies and standard operating procedures and integrate all the responsibilities in the hospital manual.

The hospital’s accounting department is also required to demand or submit a monthly report of bills rendered from the billings and claim section.

Apart from inefficient hospital billing and claim policies, the Provincial Assessor’s Office did not also maintain updated records of all idle lands in the Province.

Thus, the Provincial Treasurer’s Office failed to notify the landowner of the one percent tax on idle lands for lack of basis.

Such practice violated the provisions of the Local Government Code and the 2017 Revised Revenue Code of the Province of Iloilo.

The auditors urged the governor to direct the provincial assessor to formulate the plan and strategies in identifying and classifying idle land and establish a database or list of these properties.