Hospital consultants summoned to meeting on fees deals

HOSPITAL consultants have been summoned to a meeting with officials from the Competition Authority next week to discuss the deals which fix the fees for procedures between consultants and VHI and BUPA.

The meeting could mark the beginning of the end of existing payment procedures under which private in-patients are not billed directly for treatment they receive.

Irish Hospital Consultant Association (IHCA) secretary general Finbarr Fitzpatrick confirmed IHCA representatives would be attending meetings with authority officials next Wednesday. “If the Competition Authority says the discussions we have with VHI and BUPA are in breach of competition law we will have to discontinue them,” said Mr Fitzpatrick.