Prompt Payment of Hospitals' Medical Claims for Covid-19 Treatment Urged

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Indonesia's Health Care and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan) has been urged to speed up medical claims payments for treatment of Covid-19 patients to help ensure that hospitals stay financially able to continue their work in battling the coronavirus.

Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan has called on the BPJS “to immediately liaise with the Ministry of Health to verify data on unpaid claims so as not to affect the cash flow of hospitals that treat Covid-19 patients”.

The senior minister said in a statement on September 30 that he told the governors attending the coordination meeting to work closely with the BPJS Kesehatan. The governors are Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan, East Java Governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa, West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil, and Bali Governor Wayan Koster.

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“To the governors, please immediately instruct the health agencies and representatives of the BPJS Kesehatan in the provinces to liaise with hospitals that have not submitted medical claims and have not completed verification of claims so that it will not obstruct the handling of Covid-19 patients,” he said.

Luhut, who is also the deputy chairman of the Covid-19 Handling and National Economic Recovery Committee, called on all governors to ensure the availability of medicines for treating the Covid-19 patients according to the standard of care set by the Ministry of Health and five associations of medical specialists.

He said that the supply of medicines, the availability of medical equipment, and isolation rooms must be adequate for treating Covid-19 patients.

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During the meeting, President Director of BPJS Kesehatan Fahmi Idris reminded the health agencies to inform the hospitals to immediately submit their medical claims for handling the Covid-19 patients if they haven’t done so.

“Until now we have paid total claims of 4.4 trillion rupiahs ($297.4 million) to hospitals in 11 provinces, and still in the process of verifying other claims with the value of 2.8 trillion rupiahs ($189.3 million),” he said.

Fahmi explained that his office along with the Ministry of Health and the Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP) has made the verification process easier for the hospitals to submit medical claims.

(Writer: Ade Miranti Karunia | Editor: Yoga Sukmana)

Source: https://money.kompas.com/read/2020/09/30/084620826/luhut-minta-bpjs-kesehatan-percepat-pembayaran-klaim-rs-rujukan-covid-19.