Unpaid Medical fees cost Irish Hospital half a million Euros

The non-payment of medical fees has forced many medical establishments to turn to debt collection agencies in an effort to prevent cashflow problems.

Unpaid debts formed include unpaid private medical fees, insurance shortfalls, unpaid medical training fees, and salary overpayments.

As reported by UKDC news, one such hospital; the University Hospital Kerry (UHK) in Ireland, is reportedly owed over half a million euros (€500,000) in unpaid medical fees from patients for medical treatments given in 2021-2022, and they have required the assistance of a debt collection agency to help recover monies outstanding.

A spokesperson for UHK said that they have an obligation to collect statutory patient charges, where medical fees are outstanding under national financial regulations. Patients will initially receive an invoice from the hospital, charging for the medical services, and if left unpaid, two reminders are sent to the patient advising of the fee owed. If unpaid after this correspondence, the hospital refers the patients’ unpaid medical fees account to a debt collection agency.

Last year a total of over €50,000 (€51,876) was collected on behalf of UHK by the approved debt collectors. However as of December 31st, 2022, the hospital was still owed more than €525,000 in patient fees. UHK confirmed it will continue to use the services of a debt collection agency to secure these payments.

Controlaccount works with private hospitals, medical and dental practitioners, NHS clinics and Trusts as well as Embassies and insurers to provide a sensitive, fast and proactive debt collection service on a no collect, no fee basis.

We have a thorough understanding of the complexities of patient care and offer a range of recovery strategies to successfully collect overdue invoices including private patient, non-UK nationals, salary overpayments and commercial charges. We are a well-respected organisation in the field of healthcare debt recovery; our methods in collecting overdue accounts are fair, transparent and ethical taking into account your need to collect your debts whilst preserving client patient confidentiality and relationships.