MANILA, Philippines — The Senate on Monday approved on third and final reading a bill that would strengthen protections for patients and their relatives against detention in hospitals and medical facilities over unpaid medical bills.
Eighteen senators voted in favor of Senate Bill No. 1511, or the Enhanced Anti-Hospital Detention Act, which seeks to amend Republic Act No. 9439, the law prohibiting hospitals and clinics from refusing to discharge patients who cannot immediately settle their medical expenses.
No senator voted against the measure, while Sen. Panfilo Lacson abstained because he is a founding member of a hospital in his home province of Cavite.
Expanded protections
The proposed law would expand the existing prohibition to cover patients’ relatives, representatives and caregivers, as well as newborn babies who could be held over unpaid hospital bills.
It would also strengthen provisions requiring hospitals to release deceased patients despite unsettled medical obligations.
The measure raises the penalty for hospital officers or employees responsible for illegal detention from P100,000 to P300,000 and imposes imprisonment of up to two years and four months.
Hospital directors or officers who enforce an established policy of illegal detention could face fines ranging from P500,000 to P1 million and imprisonment of four to six years.
Three repeated violations under such a policy could result in the revocation of a hospital’s license to operate.
Sen. Risa Hontiveros, the bill’s principal author and sponsor, said the measure seeks to protect patients while allowing hospitals to pursue lawful means of collecting legitimate debts.
Hospitals can still collect unpaid bills
Hontiveros said the bill would not cancel patients’ financial obligations.
For financially incapable patients, the measure allows promissory notes secured through mechanisms specified in the law, including mortgages, contracts of guaranty, assignments of Social Security System or Government Service Insurance System loan proceeds or benefits, and guarantee letters from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, Department of Social Welfare and Development or Department of Health.
Qualified indigent patients would remain subject to assessment and endorsement, along with guarantee letters from the DOH or DSWD.
Hontiveros also said hospitals could deduct uncollected payments from taxes owed to the government.
The measure would also require transparency in healthcare costs and billing and prohibit hidden or unauthorized charges.
After Senate approval, the bill will proceed to the next stage of the legislative process.
