Hospital sends out nearly 3,000 letters regarding unpaid invoices

Thousands of reminder letters have been issued by Roscommon University Hospital regarding outstanding patient invoices,

At a HSE West Regional Health Forum, the HSE said that as of July 7th 2,908 reminder letters had been issued regarding outstanding invoices originating from RUH, 5,257 from Portiuncula, 9,058 from Sligo University Hospital, and 7,970 from Mayo.

The HSE said that reminder letters for outstanding public charges may relate to a visit to the emergency department, a visit to a local injury unit, an inpatient stay prior to May 2023, and charges applicable to non-EU residents.

“If any patient wishes to query a bill they received, they can email payabill@hse.ie or call the HSE on 1800852445 and the team will be happy to assist in any way possible,” the HSE said.

“The HSE has a statutory obligation to levy and collect charges with regards to emergency department or local injury unit presentations, coupled with inpatient charges where appropriate.” Inpatient charges were levied only up to April 2023.

The HSE said it is happy to address representations from elected officials about the letters.

Cllr Michael Kilcoyne, who sought the information, had asked when was the decision made that representations from public representatives on behalf of a constituent would not be accepted.

“I dealt with two queries from two people, both of whom had medical cards and shouldn’t have received an invoice,” he said. He said that in the second case, he was told the HSE could not give him any information due to GDPR and he was “put through the hoops a bit”.

“I just wondered if there has been a change in policy,” he said.

Regional executive officer for HSE West and North West, Tony Canavan said he would follow up on the matter and revert to the councillor.