Monday, September 22, 2008 Province's dentists want higher PhilHealth share
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- The Provincial Government's dentists want to be reclassified as medical personnel to continue receiving higher shares from the PhilHealth's common fund.
About 10 dentists led by Jocelyn Ponio of the Diosdado Macapagal Provincial Hospital expressed their dissatisfaction against Governor Eddie Panlilio's executive order removing them from the "common fund" derived from the PhilHealth share earnings for hospital medical personnel's professional fees (PFs).
Dentists from the province's district and provincial hospitals trooped to the Provincial Board's (PB) session to air their complaints on Panlilio's executive order titled "Guidelines and Policies for Sourcing, Pooling and Distribution of Phil Health Common Fund."
The dentists are complaining about their removal from the "medical personnel" classification in the sharing of hospital revenue derived from the PFs.
In the previous sharing of PhilHealth earnings, a certain percentage is given to hospitals from the professional fees. This, in turn, is converted into a "common fund" which is divided between the non-medical and the medical departments of the hospital.
Under the "medical classification" are the doctors who have direct contact and provide the basic services to patients, while those under the "non-medical category" include nurses and dentists.
The executive order classified the dentists "non-medical" staff, and they only get 25 percent of the amount being received by doctors.
In the PB's session, Ponio said the move of Panlilio has deprived them of a considerable amount of share. She explained that medical personnel get more in terms of sharing because they are fewer in number.
Ponio argued that only a single dentist is assigned per hospital and should be classified as medical personnel for the sheer amount of responsibility they have.
A hospital insider said a bustling district hospital may yield a share of P20,000 per doctor each month in terms of PhilHealth sharing.
"If the hospital is hardworking, then it gets a big share," the source said, adding that during Lapid's term, dentists were classified as medical personnel.
But one doctor here who refused to be named said dentists, in fact, do not have a real direct participation in PhilHealth beneficiaries and their services.
The source added that the executive order is "fair" since compensation should be tantamount to the work rendered.
The PB meanwhile is set to hear again the complaints of the dentists. (IOF)
