In the midst of the discussions about the elimination of the EPS, regarding the health reform, the financial status of some of them was known and it was found that the immense debts have them on the brink of bankruptcy.
The EPS union had already argued that the government of Gustavo Petro owed them $2.6 trillion, adding up 2021 and 2022, plus other debts that exceed $350 billion.
According to Colombian Association of Comprehensive Medicine Companies (Acemi), It is necessary to go to the most recent figures from the portfolio report generated by the Ministry of Health of what was reported by the hospitals, whose official numbers speak of bills payable with a cut-off date of September 30, 2022, with all public providers, of $10 .6 trillion, of which 7.6 trillion pesos correspond to EPS debts. And only to the public hospitals, the liquidated EPSs owe 4 trillion pesos, a situation that demonstrates the serious situation of the flow of resources that the providers are going through, since the money that reaches these companies does not then go to those who provide the services. to users: hospitals and clinics.
The Investigative Journalism Agency revealed the name of the nine entities that present losses in their financial statements:
–Emssanar SAS. Total income: $1″884.987’778.362 Operational loss: -347,073’127,420.
-Famisanar (from Cafam and Colsubsidio). Total income: $2″924,946’327,331. Operational loss: -300,565’019,942.
-Asmet Health: Total income: $1″772.913’453.708. Operational loss: -131,970’975,895.
–Sanitas EPS Total income: $6″422.400’562.872. Operational loss: -94.754.736.233.
-Western Health Service, SOS. Total income: $1″036.339’569.354. Operational loss: -92,192’119,357.
–South American EPS. Total income: $7″109,443’190,830. Operational loss: -60,996’334,055.
-Compensate EPS. Total income: $3″279.553’324.208. Operational loss: -54,307’146,873.
-Comfenalco Valle. Total income: $440,362’503,213. Operational loss: -7,426’581,286.
-Choco Compensation Fund. Total income: $152,154’531,212. Operational loss: -4,579’737,802.
Similarly, the maximum budget deficit amounted to 1.1 trillion pesos.
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On this, the executive president of Acemi, Paula Acosta, assured: “This is reflected in the EPS account statements, where we have seen a very significant deterioration in recent months., indicating red numbers in the consolidated results of all the EPS”.
In addition, the compensation funds, grouped in Asocajas, also expressed their concern about the financial state of the country’s health system.
“Beyond the model that the National Government finally proposes, the health system at this moment faces a serious problem regarding the issue of financial sustainability,” said Adriana Guillén, executive president of Asocajas.
Gateway to the system
According to what has been known about the health reform, through the announcements made by the head of the portfolio, Carolina Corcho, the so-called Primary Care Centers (CAP) will have the responsibility of being the first contact for patients with the health system. For this, it is estimated that more than 2,500 health centers would be established and each one would serve around 20,000 Colombians.
Faced with this, the base document used by Alejandro Gaviria indicates that “primary care centers will perform several of the functions that EPS have. The EPS accumulate 10 times more service points than the CAPs that are said to operate as a gateway. In other words, it is predictable that the congestion to attend to any procedure is infinitely higher than what is seen today in some EPS service centers”.
In addition, in these considerations about the gateway to the system, there are some contradictions. This is because the Government proposes “integrated and comprehensive health networks”, but the highest levels of complexity of the system do not have a clear access route in what has been known of the reform and there is also no clarity about the contracting of health services. third and fourth level.
Added to this is the fact that the Capitation Payment Unit (UPC), that is, the money that the state system transfers to the EPS, for the attention of each user, is proving insufficient, according to the managers of the entities, in contrast with an accident rate that in all cases is greater than 90%.