The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) on Friday, April 3, has assured that patients admitted in tents of accredited hospitals will be entitled to its coronavirus disease (COVID-19) packages if services given them are considered in-patient care.
PhilHealth President Dante Gierran made the statement after reports that patients staying in temporary tents of hospitals were allegedly charged P1,000 per hour while waiting to be admitted to a room.
“PhilHealth fully acknowledges the current situation where patients are temporarily placed in tents because hospitals can no longer admit them in regular hospital beds,” Gierran said.
“PhilHealth guarantees that COVID-19 patients are entitled to health insurance coverage for RT-PCR tests, isolation in accredited community isolation units, and hospitalization for mild to critical cases of COVID-19,” he added.
Gierran has also reiterated the clarification of PhilHealth Chief Operating Officer Nerissa Santiago in a recent congressional hearing that “if the services given to patients in tents were part of in-patient care, then these should be covered by the current in-patient COVID-19 packages of the program, as opposed to stays in non-accredited Community Isolation Unit tents which are not compensable under existing rules.”
“Be it COVID-19 or not, patients should be afforded with all the financial help as guaranteed by the Universal Health Care Law,” he said.
He noted that “PhilHealth has been reviewing existing policies to better respond to the extraordinary demands brought about by this pandemic, with the best interest of the patients in mind.”
“Enhanced guidelines will be issued the soonest to ensure that adequate financial protection is duly provided to the patients without compromising quality of care.”
Gierran said PhilHealth will investigated that reported charges of P1,000 per hour on patients staying in temporary tents of hospitals for possible violation.