According to the article published in the newspaper El Nuevo Día on November 4, 2016, titled “Peligran servicios a pacientes de derrames cerebrales” by Marga Parés Arroyo, the Primary Stroke Center located at Hospital HIMA San Pablo Caguas is in danger due to problems with its billing and to problems with the healthcare plans, private and from the government. The Primary Stroke Center is the only center in Puerto Rico dedicated in treating stroke patients and since June 9, 2016 it has ceases operations temporarily due to the two neurologists in charge quitting. Doctor María Mercedes Toledo, endovascular neurosurgeon, stated that the fact that the treatment of these patients is so high (the first 6 hours of treatment costs between $20,000 to $24,000 per patient), it makes it difficult for the healthcare plans to refund the costs, which threatens the specialized service that the center provides. According to Dr. Iván del Toro, HIMA San Pablo Caguas’ Medical Director, Molina Healthcare denies a lot of the hospital’s invoices and presently owes the hospital 27 million dollars. Likewise, HIMA San Pablo Caguas’ has confronted problems with the healthcare plans and presently some of the hospital’s personnel have filed complaints against Molina Healthcare requesting the payment of 3 million dollars for services provided. On another note, according to Mr. Irving Jiménez, Director of “Servicios Médicos de la Adminsitración de Servicios Médicos” (ASEM), the Primary Stroke Center at Hospital HIMA San Pablo Caguas will be resuming its operation during the next two weeks, since they have contracted the services of a specialist part-time.
To read the complete article, please access the following link http://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/locales/nota/peligranserviciosapacientesdederramescerebrales-2258589/