Senate OKs amendments to anti-hospital detention bill
At A Glance
- The Senate has approved on third and final reading the bill seeking to strengthen the law that provides protection to patients and their families and saves them from being detained in hospitals and medical facilities due to unpaid hospital bills or medical expenses.
The Senate has approved on third and final reading the bill seeking to strengthen the law that provides protection to patients and their families and saves them from being detained in hospitals and medical facilities due to unpaid hospital bills or medical expenses.
Senate Bill No. 1511, which seeks to amend Republic Act No. 9439 or the law prohibiting the detention of patients in hospitals and medical clinics on grounds of non-payment of hospital bills or medical expenses was approved on third and final reading on Monday, August 17.
The measure expands the protection to cover patients in “any other similar facility” and expressly includes unpaid professional fees.
“We are championing the welfare of patients and their families in our effort to completely ban hospital detention due to unpaid hospital bills,” Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian said of the bill’s passage in the Senate.
“The answer to unpaid medical debt cannot be to hold a patient, a newborn child, a family member, or the remains of a loved one against their will,” Sen. Risa Hontiveros, the bill’s principal author and sponsor, also said.
“Debts can be paid, but the dignity and freedom of Filipinos should not be used as collateral,” she stressed.
Under SB No. 1511, it would also be unlawful for hospitals and similar facilities to detain the relatives, representatives, or carers of patients, as well as newborn children in cases involving maternity patients, in exchange for allowing the patient to leave the facility.
The measure also covers patients who have fully or partially recovered but are financially incapable of settling their hospitalization expenses, including professional fees and medicines, shall be allowed to leave the hospital or medical clinic.
Moreover, it also seeks to grant patients the right to demand the immediate issuance of their medical certificate, discharge summary, prescriptions, and other pertinent documents needed for their release upon execution of a promissory note covering the unpaid obligation.
“Hospital sustainability and patient rights are not opposing choices. That is the balance this measure seeks to strike: protecting patients from detention while preserving lawful mechanisms for hospitals to recover legitimate obligations,” she said.
Sen. Joel Villanueva also lauded the passage of the measure in the Senate: “We believe it is high-time to strengthen the protection afforded to patients and their families.”
“We pushed for stronger transparency in healthcare costs and billing which
requires hospitals to clearly inform patients, their families, or guardians of applicable fees, billing policies, and estimated hospitalization costs before or during confinement of a patient,” Villanueva pointed out.
“Many of our constituents are shocked and overwhelmed by the huge amount of hospital bill they have to pay,” he further noted.
Under the bill, unpaid obligation may also be secured through a mortgage over real or personal property, a guarantee from a co-maker, a deed of assignment of Social Security System (SSS) or Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) loan proceeds or benefits, a Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) guarantee letter or for indigent and financially incapacitated patients, a guarantee letter from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) or Department of Health (DOH).
Also under the measure, indigent senior citizens endorsed by the hospital’s medical social services office to the DSWD shall not be required to execute a promissory note.
The measure also seeks the immediate release of cadavers to surviving relatives in cases of deceased patients. It also requires the prompt issuance of death certificates and other documents needed for interment, benefit claims, or legal proceedings, without requiring payment.
The bill also sets penalties for offending officers or employee of a hospital, medical clinic or similar facility such as imprisonment of six months and one day to two years and four months, or a fine ranging from P100,000 to P300,000 or both.
If violation is committed by an established hospital or clinic policy or upon the instruction of management, the responsible director or officer may face imprisonment of four to six years, or a fine of P500,000 to P1-million or both.
Also under the bill, if violations are repeated three times under such policy or instruction, the health facility’s license to operate may be revoked.