BOTH patients and health care providers would suffer if the latter opt not to renew their Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (Philhealth) accreditation.
A group of private hospitals has threatened they will not renew their Philhealth accreditation to protest the delays in the processing of their claims. But, in Manila, the Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines Inc. and Philhealth agreed Friday, Oct. 25, 2019, to end their squabble and continue working together.
Department of Health (DOH) 7 Director Jaime Bernadas said his office has not received information about any Cebu-based private hospital planning to cut ties with Philhealth. “To me, that sounds highly improbable. Mura’g dili na mahitabo (That would not happen) because Philhealth accreditation is the bread and butter of hospital operations,” he said.
“Naa g’yud nay mga delay (on payments) pero, I suppose, gi address na na. Dapat lang first is sundon nila ang guidelines for accreditation. Musunod lang sila sa mga processes,” he added. (It is true there are delays in the processing of claims, but these are being addressed. What is important is that hospitals first follow guidelines for accreditation. Just follow the process.)
He also called on the hospitals in the region to strictly abide by Philhealth’s guidelines to avoid problems.
Based on Philhealth 7 accreditation records, the region has 47 Philhealth-accredited private hospitals. Thirty-three of these are in Cebu City and province.
The list of members of the hospitals association, as shown on its website at www.phap-ph.org, named 33 private hospital-members in Cebu, including the Cebu Doctors’ University Hospital, Cebu South General Hospital, Chong Hua Hospital, Cardinal Rosales Memorial Hospital Inc. and Vicente Gullas Memorial Hospital.
Dina Marie Cinchez, Philhealth 7 information officer, said Philhealth accreditation for health care providers is not mandatory, but without accreditation, patients and hospitals would bear the burden. Patients would not get discounts on their bills, while fewer people would go to hospitals for fear of the high costs.
“Wala may pinugsanay sa pagpa-accredit, but it will also lessen the number of patients nga muduol nila, especially the indigents. Ang impact sab is ma-feel sa patients. For instance, if sila ra ang hospital in that area, like in far-flung areas, wala may eligible, maglisod ang patients,” she said. (There is no forcing them to accredit with us, but not having Philhealth accreditation will lessen the number of patients, especially indigents. Patients will feel the impact. If the hospital in a far-flung area is not accreditated, patients would find it difficult to pay their expenses.)
Earlier, some 600 members of the hospitals association threatened not to renew their Philhealth accreditation in 2020 over unpaid claims.
Philhealth, pursuant to Republic Act (RA) 10606, an act amending the National Health Insurance Act of 1995, is mandated to provide health insurance coverage to all Filipinos.
In Manila, Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go, chairman of the Senate committee on health and demography, said he met with both Philhealth and hospitals association officials to try to bring them together to an agreement.
Go said both parties agreed to settle their disputes and work together for the sake of the public.
The hospitals association had said the Philhealth owes them some P2.5 billion in unpaid claims. Philhealth officials said there are processes to be followed to check against false claims and bloated amounts.