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Conflict between the Government and private health companies: health providers warn that there are 1,670 centers at risk of bankruptcy - Infobae
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Conflicto entre el Gobierno y prepagas: prestadoras de salud alertan que hay 1.670 centros en riesgo de quiebra
La cámara nacional que nuclea a más de 400 instituciones de salud privada manifestó su preocupación por la situación del sector y aseguraron que hay también 5.000 que pueden ser ejecutados y embargados
www.infobae.com
April 22, 2024
The national chamber that brings together more than 400 private health institutions expressed its concern about the situation in the sector and assured that there are also 5,000 that can be executed and seized
The total number of private health providers in Argentina serves 7 out of 10 people (Freepik)
The Association of Private Clinics, Sanatoriums and Hospitals (Adecra) and the Chamber of Outpatient Diagnostic and Treatment Entities (Cedim) warned about the serious situation that health providers are going through due to the difference between income and costs and the risk of bankruptcy , in the midst of the conflict between the government and the prepaid companies .
From the national chamber that brings together more than 400 private health institutions including clinics, sanatoriums, private hospitals, laboratories and outpatient diagnosis and treatment centers, they warned that the situation will worsen if there are no short-term solutions.
“Faced with the gap that we have accumulated between income and costs, the end of the Health Emergency, at the threshold of the beginning of a new joint negotiation, and in view of the current sectoral panorama of public knowledge these days still without means of solution, many institutions private health companies could go bankrupt,” said the president of Adecra, Jorge Cherro .
Cherro explained to Infobae that 1,670 care centers are at risk of bankruptcy and that the AFIP has a list of 5,000 care centers that are in a position to be foreclosed and seized as of June 31 after the government ended the Emergency. Sanitary in force since 2002, which granted tax relief measures.
“The total number of private health providers in Argentina serve 7 out of every 10 people. In order to provide benefits and face increases to staff, institutions receive fees from those who hire them, who are the financiers (prepaid and social works, including PAMI), but payments are collected, in some cases , 120 days,” said Cherro.
In this sense, he referred to the conflict with prepaid companies due to the increase in fees that resulted in the government's decision to roll back increases and regulate increases based on inflation: “Today a sectoral conflict is developing, of public knowledge, which Without a doubt, it will have a strong impact on the service provider sector, understanding that we are part of a value chain that as a whole administers a public good – health – with private management. If not resolved soon, this situation will leave many institutions out of the game and bankrupt.”
The Argentine Chamber of Medicinal Specialties (CAEME) announced that it would freeze drug prices for one month (Shutterstock)
The president of the entity said that one of the most important prepgas increased its quota from January to March by 129.4% but transferred 38 percentage points less to its providers. “They had promised a 12% more increase for the month of April and now they told us that this increase was suspended. In addition, we were told that the March increase was going to be reduced by 20.7%. That is, there is a gap of 33%,” said Cherro.
In turn, PAMI is granting increases below inflation. “He has given us 20% for the month of January and 15% for March. The same thing happens with national social works, which can give us an increase when they have their own joint contributions and their collection increases,” he explained.
Also, and after the Argentine Chamber of Medicinal Specialties (CAEME) announced that it would freeze its drug prices for a month, Cherro said: “They were scared by what happened to prepaid medicine but they froze after having increased some medications up to 500%.”
According to data collected by Adecra and Cedim on associated institutions, the average cumulative gap between income and health costs from January 2020 to April 2024 was 112.20% and, within this period, the average increases in the costs of producing healthcare was 2557%, while inflation was 1805%.
Long-standing sectoral problems
The crisis that affects providers, according to the chamber, responds to “a long-standing problem of definancing or short sheets,” where multiple factors influence: tariffs below costs; high inflation in the costs of inputs, medicines and equipment, deepened by the pandemic and from the last two devaluations in August and December 2023; the structural delay in the payment chain; last joint ventures with an agreed increase of 45% distributed between February and March 2024; and the completion of fiscal relief measures and the Health Emergency at the end of last month, among others.“For 20 years, the sector has suffered a continuous economic-financial deterioration that worsened during the pandemic, from which even today we have not been able to rebuild working capital,” they explained.
Need for structural reforms
“We must not forget that, for years, the sector's income has been regulated and controlled, while costs continued to rise. Currently, even with the deregulation of the activity enabled by DNU 70/2023, the gap between costs and tariffs continues and the value chain is threatened,” they stressed.“The decree did not free the entire private health sector but only prepaid medicine companies,” said Cherro.
Health providers ask for fiscal relief measures, employment incentives, renewal of the Health Emergency, among others (Shutterstock)
In this context, they defended the need for reforms. “It is absolutely necessary and urgent that reforms be generated, especially for our sector,” they stated, and mentioned points such as “fiscal relief measures, employment incentives, renewal of the Health Emergency, payment facility plan or special moratorium, redefinition of SME characterization and urgent review of the Mandatory Medical Program (PMO)”, among others.
Along these lines, Cherro said: “Beyond the urgent need to make the activity of private health providers sustainable, it is also key that, through the issuance of laws, decrees and related regulations, the consistency and harmonization of the system is achieved. of health as a whole, which as a nation we owe ourselves. Otherwise, it will be very difficult for us to find a solution to the financing and coverage problems and to the efficiency and quality conditions that we providers have been going through.”
