❓ Hon Ray Halligan asks the Minister for Health about bad debts incurred by the Department of Health and the measures taken to minimise them. The answer refers to another question for debt details and outlines the standardised debt recovery process.
AnsweredQoN 5126Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
(1) The amount and number of bad debts incurred between 1 July 2006 and 30 June 2007?
(2) The names of outstanding debtors?
(3) What measures, if any, have been taken in the period between 1 July 2006 and 30 June 2007 to keep bad debts to a minimum?
(2) The names of outstanding debtors?
(3) What measures, if any, have been taken in the period between 1 July 2006 and 30 June 2007 to keep bad debts to a minimum?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
25 September 2007
Responded by
Minister for Child Protection representing the Minister for Health
Response time
28 days
Department of Health
Office of Health Review
(1) & (2) Please refer to question on notice LA2538.
(3) The write-off process is specified by the
Financial Management Act 2006
. As a standard practice the agency would be expected to have taken all reasonable steps to recover amounts outstanding and amend processes to avoid any recurrence prior to seeking approval to write-off.
A standardised recovery process has been implemented state wide that requires each recovery point (this may be Health Corporate Network or a Health Entity dependant on extent of centralisation of these services) to:
1. Undertake regular reviews of all outstanding balances (i.e. Invoices and Credit Notes).
2. Forward an overdue account reminder letter for all amounts overdue. A copy of original invoice is forwarded with a sticker dependant on election type and payments received.
3. 'Final notice' is sent to debtor if not paid 60 days after invoice date.
4. If no response is given to these 'final notices', contact is made with the debtors by telephone (where possible).
5. If payment is still not received:
·Submit for write-off if the amount is too small for further action (ie. not economical to follow up further) and / or is more than 180 days old (unless the debt is for a compensable patient).
·Engage collection agency and direct agency in writing as to what degree debt is to be pursued to achieve recovery.
Before recommending an accounts receivable write-off the Department ensures:
· Proper steps have been made to investigate the raising and non-recovery of the debts;
· It is a legitimate charge and not a debtor being incorrectly charged;
·Reasonable steps have been taken to recover the debts;
·Legal prosecution has not been appropriate or not successful; and
·The debt is reasonably considered to be unrecoverable.
A request for write-off of outstanding debt is to occur when further action is considered unlikely to be successful and any of the following criteria are satisfied:
· Debtor cannot be located;
· Further action unlikely to succeed;
· Further action is not viable and account is greater than 180 days old;
· Debtor has no job or assets;
· It is uneconomical to pursue any further action;
· Legal proceedings through the courts have proved, or on legal advice, would prove unsuccessful; and
· The Statute of Limitations period has expired.
Notice: This document is created or edited using unregistered or evaluation copy of rtLib valid for testing or development purposes only. To use it for productive or any other purposes please register it. You may purchase the license on
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Office of Health Review
(1) & (2) Please refer to question on notice LA2538.
(3) The write-off process is specified by the
Financial Management Act 2006
. As a standard practice the agency would be expected to have taken all reasonable steps to recover amounts outstanding and amend processes to avoid any recurrence prior to seeking approval to write-off.
A standardised recovery process has been implemented state wide that requires each recovery point (this may be Health Corporate Network or a Health Entity dependant on extent of centralisation of these services) to:
1. Undertake regular reviews of all outstanding balances (i.e. Invoices and Credit Notes).
2. Forward an overdue account reminder letter for all amounts overdue. A copy of original invoice is forwarded with a sticker dependant on election type and payments received.
3. 'Final notice' is sent to debtor if not paid 60 days after invoice date.
4. If no response is given to these 'final notices', contact is made with the debtors by telephone (where possible).
5. If payment is still not received:
·Submit for write-off if the amount is too small for further action (ie. not economical to follow up further) and / or is more than 180 days old (unless the debt is for a compensable patient).
·Engage collection agency and direct agency in writing as to what degree debt is to be pursued to achieve recovery.
Before recommending an accounts receivable write-off the Department ensures:
· Proper steps have been made to investigate the raising and non-recovery of the debts;
· It is a legitimate charge and not a debtor being incorrectly charged;
·Reasonable steps have been taken to recover the debts;
·Legal prosecution has not been appropriate or not successful; and
·The debt is reasonably considered to be unrecoverable.
A request for write-off of outstanding debt is to occur when further action is considered unlikely to be successful and any of the following criteria are satisfied:
· Debtor cannot be located;
· Further action unlikely to succeed;
· Further action is not viable and account is greater than 180 days old;
· Debtor has no job or assets;
· It is uneconomical to pursue any further action;
· Legal proceedings through the courts have proved, or on legal advice, would prove unsuccessful; and
· The Statute of Limitations period has expired.
Notice: This document is created or edited using unregistered or evaluation copy of rtLib valid for testing or development purposes only. To use it for productive or any other purposes please register it. You may purchase the license on
http://www.rtlib.com
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