Evening star., 1945-07-25
IncreasedFees
|AtGallinger
Urged in Report
Committee Suggests
Nonindigents Poy
$3.50 Per Day

The committee of District hospital
and financial officials decided today
to recommend to the Commissioners
that the maximum fees for nom
INDECENT patients at Gallinger Mu-
nicipal Hospital be raised from "a
to $3.50 day, in line with the in
creased cost of operation.
Although no announcement was
made as to the cost at the other
municipal hospitals, Upshur Street
and Glenn Dale Sanatorium, Acting
Health Officer Daniel L. Seckinger
said costs rose similarly at those
institutions and that increases
would be required.
The committee which met today
at the District Building included DR..
Seckinger, DR.. Alvin r. Sweeney,
superintendent of Gallinger; Doug
las N. West, head of the Hospital
Permit Bureau: D. P. Herman of
the Budget Office and District Au-
ditor Arthur r. Pilkerton.
Clinic Study Underway.
DR.. Seckinger said a committee
at Gallinger Hospital now was
studying the proper amounts to be
charged at clinics for service and
drugs. 1t has been estimated out
patient service at clinics is costing
the District about 100000 a year.
The problem of setting new stand
ards of indigency for patients en-
tering municipal hospitals also will
be given further study.
Recommendations of Mr.. Pilker-
ton for overhauling the machinery
for collections from non-indigent
patients at hospitals were approved
by the committee, except that fur
ther study is to be given the ques-
ton of clinical fees and standards
of indigency.
Mr.. Pilkerton made series of rec
concentrations last March when he
reported to the Commissioners that
in year and quarter only $4,000
had been collected of 1921 900 Gall
linger patients had agreed to pay.
Semimonthly Bills.
Among the suggestions of Mr..
Pilkerton agreed upon today were
that patients in the hospital be
billed semimonthly and that definite
arrangements for payments be made
with patients before they are re-
leased, and that there should be a
medical officer at the hospital to
determine if a patient should be
admitted as an emergency case.
Other recommendation made by
Mr.. Pilkerton were that the Hos
pital Permit Bureau establish at Gall
linger an admittance and discharge
office; that the business Office be
I stated sufficiently to maintain the
Erecord of all admissions and dis
rlcharges; that all delinquent accounts
which remain unpaid 80 days after
delinquency be reported to the spe-
; cial financial unit of the tax col
lector's Office; that all accounts
found uncollectable by the spe-
cial financial unit be reported to
: the Commissioners for cancellation
:. through the auditor; that the busi-
ness Office maintain a numerical file
of all pay patients accounts; that
; the Permit Bureau make payment
agreements with Upshur Street pa
tients able to pay; that all trans
. fers from municipal hospitals to
, !, Upshur Street be cleared through
the Permit Bureau and that con-
tracts for pay patients care be
forwarded 10 the Gallinger business
Office.
Mr.. Pilkerton said some of his
recommendations are already in
effect, although he did not specify
them. He said while he had made
no recent calculation on collections
from pay patients, the situation had
definitely improven," land that
every time you tighten up on pro-
cedure YOU improve collections"