OVER 70 hospital consultants around the country face having their rights to treat private patients removed from mid-September under controversial disciplinary procedures being undertaken by the HSE.
In letters to be sent out to individual consultants from today, management will warn that unless they pay what are effectively financial penalties for seeing excessive numbers of private patients, they will lose their right to carry out private practice in public hospitals from September 15th.
The letters are expected to state that if the consultants concerned do not make the payments being sought by the HSE to hospital research funds, as provided for under the 2008 contract between the State and hospital consultants, private health insurance companies will be informed that they will not be permitted to treat their subscribers.
It is understood the HSE has been in contact with the Department of Health on its plans to remove private practice rights over recent weeks and informed both the Irish Hospital Consultants Association and the Irish Medical Organisation of the move at a meeting last Friday.
The HSE did not comment on the issue yesterday.
Depending on their type of contract, consultants working in public hospitals with private practice rights can either see a maximum of 20 per cent or 30 per cent of fee-paying patients.
However, over the last year or so the HSE argued that a number of consultants were not in compliance with the terms of the public-private mix in their new contracts.
The Irish Hospital Consultants Association is challenging the methodology used by the HSE in calculating the level of private practice. It has said the system adopted by management in the health service is “fundamentally flawed”.
Last August the HSE signalled it planned to issue official warnings to consultants that they could face sanctions. Several months ago it began issuing formal invoices to a number of consultants which set out the amount it believed they should pay into the special research fund.
The Irish Timesreported earlier this year that one consultant in the south of the country had been sent an invoice for around €100,000, although the amounts involved for other doctors are believed to be far smaller.
It is understood the HSE has told consultants that pending clarification of the tax status of the payments to the research fund, at present they only have to pay 20 per cent of the amount set out in the invoices. However when their tax returns are finalised, they could face having to make further payments to the fund.
Separately, it was alleged last week that one hospital consultant received €1 million in fees from the VHI and that 138 others received more than €300,000. However, it is unclear as to whether these doctors work exclusively in the private sector or are HSE or voluntary hospital employees with private practice rights.
Meanwhile hospital consultants are also expected to feature in the review of top-level pay that the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin is expected to bring to Cabinet tomorrow.