Bureaucrats Bungle Aged Care Payments

February 2 2006

Bureaucrats Bungle Aged Care Payments

Bureaucratic bungling between Auckland DHBs and the Ministry of Health's payment arm HealthPac, has again delayed long overdue payments to aged residential care providers.

Providers are waiting for a 6 month backdated price increase following an inflation adjustment dating back to July 2005.

Providers were expecting to be paid on the 27th of January, but this did not happen. The following week, providers began receiving letters saying the delay had been caused by HealthPac having to do a 'large payment run'.

Although the letter blames HealthPac for the delay, DHB representatives are now saying the real reason is a disagreement between DHBs and HealthPac on what amounts should be paid.

Adding insult to injury no one is prepared to say when the payments will be made, or if the DHB will pass on the interest they are enjoying from having millions of dollars of provider funds sitting in their bank accounts.

HealthPac and Auckland DHBs have a history of failing to pay providers on time, with Waitemata DHB taking over a year to pass on holidays act compensation funding to providers.

"What this situation reveals, yet again, is that the system supporting aged care funding is a bureaucratic shambles. Every step of the way there seems to be a severe disconnect - whether it's between DHBs and HealthPac, or HealthPac and the Ministry of Health", said Martin Taylor CEO of HealthCare Providers NZ.

"The people who pay for these delays are aged care providers. They are the ones who carry the financial risks for inflation. It is especially hard on those providers who have paid out wage increases in December last year, believing that the payment would arrive in January".

ENDS

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