Thursday, May 03, 2007 Philheath vows to pay up docs, hospitals’ claims by June By Carlo P. Mallo
THE Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (Philhealth) apologized on Wednesday for the unprecedented delay in the release of the claims of medical practitioners.
Dr. Ruben Lacuna, medical officer of the Philhealth’s claims department, said the delay is attributed to the Taiwan earthquake early this year that severely damaged their system.
Lacuna said Philhealth is doing its best to address the delay in the release of funds.
He added that in previous years, Philhealth was able to pay doctors and medical institutions prior to the six months grace period accorded to them.
A report published in Sun.Star last month said doctors, even hospitals, are already suffering the brunt of the delay in payment of doctors' claims.
Medical practitioners in the city raised their complaints over the delays in the release of their claims from Philhealth and urged the agency to resolve the problem soon.
Patience
Lacuna said hopefully by June this year, they would be able to service all backlog payments.
"We are eyeing June as the target date to complete all backlog payments," he said. "I also hope that they can extend their patience a little more."
Funds intact
Lacuna added that the funds of Philhealth are intact contrary to reports that the funds are being utilized for the campaign of some electoral candidates.
"It is unfair to say that Philhealth is being used by politicians to ensure their win in the upcoming May polls," Lacuna said.
Lacuna asserted that over P200 to 300 million were released in 2006 to pay for the professional fees alone of the doctors.
It is only this year that they were not able to immediately settle their obligations with their partners in the medical field, he said.
It is quite unfair to tag Philhealth, he said, as a delinquent partner in the field of health services.
No salary
Dr. Malou Monteverde, who spoke in behalf of the Davao Medical Society, earlier told Sun.Star Davao that the delay in payments is already taking its toll on the doctors.
She revealed that the hardest hit specialists are the ones who deliver "Philhealth packages" like ophthalmologists and obstetrician-gynecologists.
According to Monteverde, this is so because these doctors deliver the needed services without charging a single cent from the patients for as long as the patient has a Philhealth card. These doctors' earnings come from Philhealth.
She likened the situation of the doctors to someone working for eight months without getting a salary and that was as of March. Now they are going on their 10th month of getting a pittance from Philhealth, some as low as P500 for the whole duration. The bulk of patients of ophthalmologists are those seeking cataract removals, most of which are the elderly.
Philhealth also owes hospitals in the region by the millions of pesos, threatening the operations of these hospitals.
