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The Hospital Authority (HA) Board endorsed at the Administrative and Operational Meeting today (July 26) the recommendations of a review on the private patient revenue management system to further enhance the control environment and mechanism.
The spokesman for the HA said the recommendations include a revamp of the Patient Billing / Revenue Collection (PBRC) system. The revamp project will provide HA an end-to-end enterprise billing capability and a definition of the range of services. Through its support for itemized private patient services billing and its integration of the feeder clinical systems, it is anticipated that this capability will provide an improved control environment.
Other recommendations endorsed by the Board for implementation will include:
- Formalizing the professorial waiver system
- Provision of itemized summary of professorial fees waived
- Sample checking of medical records to billing records
- Improving the timeliness of billing by adopting the practice of billing at the point of order entry.
According to the HA spokesman, an Internal Taskforce was formed in March this year by the Authority with the following scope of work:
- To analyse the income and activities of the private patient services provided by HA, in particular the two teaching hospitals, for the last three years
- To review the current control systems surrounding the revenue for private patient service in the whole of HA
- To review existing practices in relation to fee sharing arrangements with the two universities
"Given the importance of the matters, the Taskforce considered it important to gain independent assurance on the adequacy of the internal controls in place in the current system. HA's external auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers, was therefore engaged to perform an independent review of the private patient revenue system."
The conclusion of the Taskforce noted that HA's private patient billing system in the past contained inherent weaknesses because it was largely manual. However, with incremental improvements in processes and controls made, controls have been strengthened. Furthermore, it was also stated that the current Private Patient Billing Systems comply with HA's financial regulations and policies to ensure revenues are properly recorded.
"The HA will be working closely with the working group recently set up by the Council of the University of Hong Kong in the implementation of the recommendations to further enhance and strengthen the control systems for private patient revenue management in public hospitals," said the spokesman.
[Note: The Report of the Internal Taskforce's Review of Hospital Authorityˇ¦s Private Patient Revenue Management System is posted on HA Homepage (www.ha.org.hk) under "About Hospital Authority" ˇV "More Information" column.]
Ends/Thursday, July 26, 2007
Issued at HKT 20:03
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