Payments to 7,000 HSE service providers still outstanding due to IT issue

At least 7,000 HSE service providers are still waiting for overdue payments due to issues with a new multimillion euro IT system which was designed to streamline payments. Payments to providers of home-care help, nursing homes, maintenance operators, hospital food and medical equipment – as well as patients who require reimbursement for treatment – continue to be affected.

More than two weeks ago the HSE asked for suppliers to bear with it as it attempted to “quickly resolve” the payment issues which run into millions of euro. Management sources said the 30-day payment grace period ended for a lot of the service providers. The HSE acknowledged that it knows many suppliers may be facing financial pressure as a result of the IT problem, which it claims is a “temporary issue”.

The HSE implemented the new €82 million finance system, designed to streamline payments, at the end of June for hospitals in the eastern region (HSE East), Tusla and other HSE corporate services units.

The HSE in an update to The Irish Times has said that “currently there are approximately 7,000 invoices which are overdue, or due for payment” by Saturday of next week. Two weeks ago that figure stood at 25,000 supplier invoices being overdue.

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A significant proportion of the current temporary delays relate to transactions which began under a number of old systems and are now being processed by this new system. According to a HSE spokesperson these invoices need manual validation to allow them to be processed by the new system and this takes time and has led unfortunately to the delays. “There is no issue or ‘glitch’ with the technology. Once we get to a point where we are only processing invoices issued under the new system this problem will end.”

However, the HSE acknowledged that it knows the current delays are causing “real problems for some, and we apologise sincerely to suppliers for whom inconvenience or difficulties are being caused”. It said it was continuing to work to minimise delays and was “prioritising invoices” from suppliers who may be facing particular pressures.

“There is a temporary delay in processing some supplier invoices during the current transition to a new finance and procurement process in parts of the HSE. This has arisen during the rollout of the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS), the single integrated financial management and procurement system, in the HSE East, corporate and national services,” the spokesperson said.

All other HSE areas are unaffected, and invoice processing and payments for these services are operating as normal.

The HSE processes 2.1 million supplier invoices annually.