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PMC stays on the Covid bill audit trail of pvt hospitals; bed mgmt issues keep officials busy
PUNE Even though Covid cases are seeing a surge, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) officials note that the PMC has not received many complaints of hospital and medical bills being overcharged or inflated
PUNE Even though Covid cases are seeing a surge, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) officials note that the PMC has not received many complaints of hospital and medical bills being overcharged or inflated.
After a rise in cases last year, PMC started bill audits to keep a check on private hospitals.
With the second wave of cases, however, PMC is overwhelmed with issues related to bed availability.
Dr Manisha Naik, assistant chief of the health department at the PMC, said as cases have seen a rise, there have been more and more demands for beds.
“In the last eight days, there has been no complaint received by the PMC of bill inflation by private hospitals. The department officials have been busy with bed management to ensure that patients get the necessary medical care. We had a few minor issues reported to us which we have resolved immediately,” said Naik.
Speaking about the bill audits done by the PMC, Dr Ashish Bharti, chief of the health department at PMC, said that there are two teams that are deployed to audit the bills.
“One team does pre-audits and the other does post-audits of bills. We conduct bill audits of Covid patients who have a bill of ₹1.5 lakh or more from a private hospital,” said Dr Bharti.
Dr Manisha Naik further added that a few pre-audit cases were resolved by the PMC.
“In the last few days a few cases during the pre- audit have been immediately resolved,” said Dr Naik.
Dr Abhijeet More, a health activist from Pune, said that the practice of bill audits started during the last wave to check inflated bills.
“Even in this wave, bill audits should be continued,” said Dr More.
Till February 15, PMC has evaluated up to ₹16,76,66,879 bills and refunded ₹2,86,86,926 to patients, according to officials.
Bill audits by PMC
Total bills audited - ₹16,76,66,879
Bill refunded to patients by PMC - ₹2,86,76,926
Total number of bills scrutinised - 1,040
* Patients who have a Covid bill of ₹1.5 lakh or higher, can contact the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) on 020-25502115 for a bill audit.
