NMI cancer patients’ treatment in danger • DPH threatens to cut ties with Queens’ Medical Center due to billing discrepancies

Treatments of patients with advanced cancer may be put in jeopardy if the Department of Public Health proceeds with its plans to cut its agreement with Hawaii-based Queen’s Medical Center due to continued medical billing discrepancies.

Based on the updated status report for the Medicaid Agency, off-island medical referral patients only incurred an estimated $18,978.81 to-date but hospital staff continue to turn away DPH patients seeking highly specialized cancer treatments at Queen’s.

Since October last year, almost $1.711 million worth of medical bills were settled to the Hawaii hospital but billings continue to pile up, leaving DPH officials wondering where payments had been diverted that settled hospital bills always fail to show up.

Public Health Secretary Kevin Villagomez yesterday disclosed a meeting has been scheduled next month with Queen’s Medical Center officials to discuss this billing discrepancy.

Mr. Villagomez said the meeting is aimed at settling, once and for all, the billing problem faced not only by the public health department’s Medicaid Agency but also of the Government Health and Life Insurance Program.

“We have to reconcile those billings. We keep on asking them to provide us with documents,” the secretary said.

He added that despite payments made for the existing accounts, medical referral patients sent to Queen’s to undergo treatments for advanced cancer were held back, asked to pay up front or turned away by hospital officials.

He admitted that there are few medical charges for this year that has to be paid out but DPH has been exerting all efforts to settle outstanding balances despite financial setbacks.

“We only send patients solely for medical needs, but they are asked to pay up front, we will pay them, perhaps not now but we will, we cannot zero out entirely those medical charges,” Mr. Villagomez explained.

Should officials of DPH and Queen’s failed to iron out this problem, there is no other alternative left for the Commonwealth but cut its ties with the hospital and develop relations with other Hawaii-based health providers.

However, Queen’s is the only hospital in Hawaii with highly modernized facilities to treat advanced cases of cancer and other specialized diseases.

Despite this, Mr. Villagomez stressed that other Hawaii hospitals had already signified intention to accept DPH patients sent to off-island health providers.

In fact, the secretary explained St. Francis has accepted patients turned away by Queen’s while other health providers like Straub Clinic and Hospital, are willing to take in other patients who need medical treatments abroad.

In October last year, the Medical Referral Office settled GHLI financial problem with Queen’s amounting to over $1.4 million while Medicaid Agency paid an estimated $338,044 and other medical bills of $56,644.

Even the GHLI earlier encountered the same problem following the overblown medical billing statement forwarded by Queen’s to the agency last year.

Like DPH, GHLI Branch asked Queen’s administration to correct its billing problems and re-compute medical treatments charged to GHLI.

Based on Hawaii Medical Association report, health carriers has reported losses of $17 million last year and $30 million the year before. Queen’s Medical Center lost $11.9 million in 1999-2000 and it has a $6.6 million deficit so far this fiscal year. (EGA)