The HSE has said it cannot for legal reasons 'name and shame' hospital consultants who are holding up payments to public hospitals from private health insurers.

The HSE is currently owed around €61 million from insurers in respect of private patients who have been treated in public hospitals. Claims for these payments to hospitals have to be signed off by the treating consultant.

However, there are often long delays in consultants doing so, with some doctors taking a number of months to complete the necessary paperwork to allow the hospitals collect the badly-needed income.

The health executive, in a report to the Dail Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said it had examined the option of publishing names of consultants who had not completed and signed off on insurance claims.

However, it said its legal advisers had identified legal risks with this, including that a consultant who was named in such a list could potentially sue the HSE for defamation, breach of confidentiality and/or breach of data protection laws.

The HSE said in a bid to improve collection of private treatment fees owed, it was aiming to improve its systems through initiatives such as electronic claiming, implementing a 14-day maximum period for consultant sign-off and setting out national standards for all stages of the collection process.

In a new contract deal agreed with consultants last September, doctors agreed to to sign off on the insurance forms within 20 days.