Hospital patients wrongly billed in Hong Kong through system error
The authority said refunds would be arranged immediately and advised those who had not yet paid to ignore the bills
More than 220 patients were wrongly billed by as much as HK$1,600 (US$200) because of a system error, the Hospital Authority admitted on Wednesday.
The authority’s head office received a report from a hospital on March 21 following a patient’s inquiry into a discrepancy in a waiver of fees, a spokesman said.
A review of the operational records showed an error had occurred in the Patient Billing and Revenue Collection System on March 11, when the fee waivers for 226 patients had not been reflected in the system. The patients concerned had unnecessarily received a bill, ranging from HK$80 to HK$1,600.
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A total of 226 users of community nursing services in 13 public hospitals were affected.
The authority said refunds would be arranged immediately and advised those who had not yet paid to ignore the bills.
“The Hospital Authority is deeply concerned about the incident and will conduct a thorough investigation to prevent similar incidents in the future,” a spokesman said.
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The hospitals included Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital, Caritas Medical Centre, Haven of Hope Hospital, Kowloon Hospital, Kwong Wah Hospital, North District Hospital, Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital, Princess Margaret Hospital, Pok Oi Hospital, Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital, Tuen Mun Hospital, United Christian Hospital and Yan Chai Hospital.
