Gestion du recouvrement des frais médicaux dans le service des urgences d’un hôpital public de la ville de Douala

INTRODUCTION: recovery of medical expenses in health care facilities is a problem that undermines the entire health system in Cameroon. Hospitals are finding it increasingly difficult to recover medical costs after performing patient care. The purpose of this study is to investigate the recovery system of medical expenses in the emergency departments of some hospitals in the city of Douala in order to improve its management. METHOD: we conducted a mixed analytical and cross-sectional study based on non-probability sampling. The study involved 150 patients who agreed to respond freely to a questionnaire and a staff with whom we had interviews during an eight-month period from January 05 to August 30, 2021. The purpose was to better understand the stages of recovery of medical expenses at the Emergency Department of the Lanquintinie Hospital in Douala. RESULTS: more than 60% of respondents had not purchased health insurance to limit recovery problems, and 43.33% knew what debt recovery was. The main difficulty they faced in recovery was administrative slowness (64.67%) and the non-payment of medical costs due to poverty (48.67%) as well as the high cost of these expenses (29.33%). CONCLUSION: although the recovery procedure follows a well-developed process, there are increasing numbers of insolvencies, thus reducing the ability to recover them. That is why reforms to the recovery system are increasingly needed.