Faced with 120 million unpaid bills owed by foreign residents, the AP-HP presented a new strategy. From now on, care will have to be provisioned in advance.
They come from the Gulf, Russia, China, the Maghreb, or even border countries – Switzerland, Belgium… Their common point: a well-filled wallet, and a state of health which requires medical care. For the French hospital sector, these “very solvent patients”, like Abdelaziz Bouteflika (Algerian president) would even be the invaluable opportunity to replenish their funds, explained a recent report on the “valuation of French medical expertise. “, Better known as” medical tourism “.
The only downside is that these patients sometimes leave slates for French health establishments. Latest proof, a report presented on July 7 by the management in the establishment medical committee (CME), which shows that the sums not recovered by the hospitals in the Paris region of the AP-HP (1) from patients, French or no, residing abroad, or their insurers, amounted to 118.6 million euros as of November 15, 2014.
Algeria champion of the debt
And in this table consulted by Agence France Presse (AFP), the champion of the debt to Public Assistance – Paris Hospitals is precisely Algeria with 31.6 million euros, followed by Morocco (11 million), the United States (5.7 million), Belgium (4.9 million), Tunisia (4.7 million) and Italy (4.1 million).
From 2010 to 2014, the number of stays linked to the reception of patients domiciled abroad increased by 9.8%, with, in 2014, more stays for Algeria, Morocco, Italy and Kuwait. Importantly, these figures do not relate to foreign patients residing in France, on a regular basis or not.
In the end, this debt is equivalent to more than double the deficit of the main account (care activities) of the AP-HP, or 49 million euros in 2014.
The AP-HP action plan
Faced with this financial windfall, the AP-HP did not sit idly by. Since 2013, it has already applied increases of 30% to its rates for patients residing abroad (excluding emergencies, state medical aid, humanitarian interventions and international agreements with the social security funds of the countries of origin).
This overbilling brought in 10 million euros to the AP-HP in 2014, according to documents presented in CME.
And the AP-HP, which aims at a maximum rate of 1% of foreign patients, wishes to further extend its international influence, thanks to a “new strategy” which wishes at the same time to curb the increase in unpaid bills.
Thus, from September, patients or foreign organizations will have to pay in advance, according to an estimate calculated on the price of a day increased by 30%, the costs of a scheduled intervention. Otherwise they will not be taken care of.
(1) Public Assistance – Paris Hospitals
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