Report: Roche revises payment rules to curb drug-billing credit for some hospitals in Spain, Portugal
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Last Updated:May 28, 2012 13:53
Bloomberg reported Monday that Roche revised its payment rules and now requires some hospitals in Spain and Portugal with the worst arrears to settle their debts before the company will supply them with more drugs on credit. Company spokesperson Silvia Dobry said Roche is also considering implementing a similar policy change for "a limited number" of Italian hospitals that have not paid off their debts for two to three years.
Dobry noted that "several hospitals...have not paid their bills for more than two years," adding that some clinics are given credit again if they pay down their old debts to reach a certain level. The drugmaker, which last year suspended supplying medications to certain Greek hospitals for non-payment of debt, changed its policy in February with regard to Portugal, and last year in Spain, with more Spanish hospitals included on the list in March and April, Dobry said.
She indicated that the policy, which applies to all types of medications, affects a dozen Spanish hospitals, and according to a report in El Pais newspaper, Roche will not supply drugs to those that are more than 700 days behind on payments. Meanwhile, the change will impact 23 hospitals in Portugal, which account for about one quarter of the hospitals in that country, though Dobry specified that no cancer clinics are affected. According to Roche, some Portuguese hospitals are more than 1000 days late on payments.
In Greece, Roche offers an emergency access programme that permits hospitals with outstanding debts to pay on delivery to obtain certain drugs for HIV, organ transplants and other life-threatening diseases.
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