- The Ministry of Health and Social Protection announced six strategies to attain it.
Bogotá D.C., 15 April 2016. The Ministry of Health and Social Protection established a new emergency plan that includes several measures to ease the liquidity situation of some public and private hospitals.
The need for this second phase of the emergency plan was presented by the Colombian Association of Hospitals and Clinics (ACHC) at the last meeting of the advisory body of the Ministry of Health and Social Protection where all sector stakeholders participate.
Among the six strategies announced, the third line of credit with Findeter, excess employer contributions, and control of transfers and balances are the most important.
Each strategy is defined as:
1. The third line of credit with Findeter: a new investment of $ 20 billion will be made to leverage soft loans for over $ 180 billion pesos to the healthcare providers (IPSs). The Ministry issued Resolution 1121 of 2016 for this purpose.
2. Excess employer contributions: $ 180 billion pesos will be distributed from excess employer contributions to provinces and districts, which will be used to pay for health services not covered by demand subsidies owed by the territorial entity to the health promotion organizations (EPS) or health service providers.
3. Monitoring and control of transfer of Cafesalud resources: the amounts authorized by the EPS for direct transfer to providers will be reviewed earlier, so that the average direct transfer increases. The resources the EPS receives for capitation payment unit (UPC) amount to an average amount of $ 300 billion pesos per month.
Similarly, EPS accounts payable will be monitored, so that in the coming days the transfer of the balance of Bocas (option convertible bonds) worth $ 62.86 billion pesos is made. This implies compliance with an immediate action plan by the new Cafesalud administration in order to overcome the operational problems that have affected the flow of resources to various providers in the first months of this year.
4. Transfer of the Findeter credit resources for EPSs: in the coming days the transfers of the credits approved for the EPSs will continue, which will be transferred directly to providers. In relation to soft loans, a transfer of a balance of Coomeva EPS is in process and those of Asmet Health EPS and Emsanar are pending approval. The resources associated with this measure amount to $ 343.7 billion pesos.
5. Acquisition of securities issued by Savia Salud EPS: in order to progress in the capital strengthening of the mixed EPS, a Bocas operation will be designed with the Savia Salud EPS similar to that made with Cafesalud, and in accordance with the provisions in Decree 1681 of 2015. This operation will be developed by consulting the availability of resources.
6. Direct transfer in the tax regime: in accordance with the provisions of the National Development Plan, the Ministry of Health and Social Protection issued Resolution 3503 of 2015, establishing the percentages and conditions for the operation of direct transfers to the IPSs and suppliers of health technologies and services in those EPSs that do not meet the solvency regime goals as assessed by the Superintendency in accordance with Decree 2702 of 2014.
The Ministry will implement this measure starting July 2016, in accordance with the list of EPSs reported by the National Health Superintendency. The purpose is to transfer 80% of resources to service and technology providers and suppliers appearing in the POS.
