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TO ADDRESS HOSPITAL BILLINGS IN REAL TIME
CHCC eyes new kiosk by 2019
The Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. is looking at a new kiosk that will bill patients in real-time in an effort to improve its billing system.
CHCC chief executive officer Esther Muña, who was guest speaker during last Wednesday’s Saipan Chamber of Commerce meeting at the Fiesta Resort & Spa Saipan, said that CHCC is looking at securing a kiosk that allows real-time billing and payment before a patient leaves the hospital. Real-time means occurring immediately.
Currently, the Commonwealth Health Center’s billing system is not as efficient, running on a billing software provided by the Indian Health Service—for free.
“The IHS created this system, which we have access to for free. We have been using that ever since,” she said. With the free billing system, Muña noted some challenges, especially since the system was not specifically created for the CNMI situation.
“It is a system [not necessarily] designed…for us, so we are tweaking it. When we tweak it, there are some challenges,” she said. “We have room for improvement—we know that.”
According to Muña, a billing system known as “Epic” is the more ideal option. However, the last time she checked, the system costs $60 million to $70 million. She suspects the price to be at $100 million currently.
“We don’t have the money to pay for that system,” she said.
The kiosk, Muña said, would allow for the real-time billing and bill-compilation of patients once they are discharged.
“…You can go in, check in, and you can even use your credit card [to pay],” she said. “…It automatically tells you to pay [the hospital bills] before you get out.”
Muña noted that CHC’s financial problems are not limited to billing concerns. She notes that majority of CHC receivables are actually uncompensated care.
“They are [hospital billings] that are uncollected and uncollectible because people just don’t have the money,” she said. Some are even uninsured. “We can demand them to pay, but if they don’t have the money, what can we do?”
