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money owed
Irish hospitals spent €815k on debt collectors to retrieve unpaid hospital fees
Beaumont Hospital in Dublin spent more than twice as much as any other hospital in the country on debt collectors.
IRISH HOSPITALS SPENT more than €815,000 in the first eight months of this year on debt collection services to retrieve unpaid hospital fees from patients.
Figures released in a Freedom of Information request to Ailbhe Jordan in the Medical Independent show Beaumont Hospital in Dublin spent €165,000 between January and August – more than twice as much as any other hospital in the country – in a bid to track down unpaid bills.
The Midland Regional Hospital in Tullamore and Wexford General Hospital were the next highest-spenders at €54,302 and €22,132 respectively.
One company alone, Legal & Credit Management Services, was paid more than €360,000 for its debt collection services by hospitals around the country.
Figures from 2011 show that Irish hospitals were owed more than €7 million in unpaid fees from Accident and Emergency Departments. Patients are charged a standard fee of €100 for visits to A&E in a public hospital unless they are referred by a GP or have a medical card.
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