IHSCM Featured in HSJ:
Several commissioning boards have been routinely failing to pay the money they owe to care homes in a timely fashion.
At least four integrated care boards paid fewer than two-thirds of their care home bills within 30 days, according to data collected by HSJ for the year to June 2023.
Those ICBs were; Frimley; Hertfordshire and West Essex; Herefordshire and Worcestershire; and North East London.
Most ICBs paid 95 per cent of the value of their care home invoices within the statutory 30-day limit.
Research by the Institute of Health and Social Care Management has warned that a fifth of care homes fear financial collapse due to unpaid bills from the NHS and local councils.
Susan Jones, director of social care at IHSCM, told HSJ the late payments were happening “at a time when care provider margins are already being squeezed with increased costs across the board.
“If care businesses close due to being untenable, it would lead to more chaos within health and social care, and that is the last thing the UK needs right now.”
ICBs were introduced as part of reforms to integrate and improve collaboration with social care services.
Frimley ICB said it paid all “valid” invoices in line with the statutory guidance, but it had “a high incidence of queries on invoices received from care home providers”. Once queries were resolved, it said invoices “are processed within a week for payments”. It said 70 per cent of the invoices it was billed by care homes had “anomalies that need investigating”.
It added it was currently working towards payment via schedule which should reduce processing times.
Hertfordshire and West Essex ICB said that since April 2023, it had paid 98 per cent of all its non-NHS invoices within 30 days of receiving a “valid” invoice.
Herefordshire and Worcestershire, and North East London ICBs, were approached for comment.
HSJ sent freedom of information requests to all 42 ICBs and received full responses from 28. Of these, just over £2bn of the £2.3bn invoiced by care homes was paid within 30 days.
The data also revealed £23.8m of the amount care homes invoiced took more than 90 days to pay.
