President Duterte has ordered the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) to immediately pay the valid claims of hospitals as the number of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in the country continues to rise, Malacañang announced.
(KING RODRIGUEZ / PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO / FILE PHOTO)
Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque made the statement as private hospitals lament unpaid claims supposedly amounting to P6 billion.
"President Duterte directed to expedite the payment of valid claims of hospitals today, April 8, 2021," he wrote in his statement on Thursday.
In response, PhilHealth approved the application of a Debit-Credit Payment Method (DCPM) to facilitate the settlement of accounts payable to Health Care Facilities (HCFs) during the state of public health emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Roque said HCFs eligible for DCPM must be located in regions identified by the government pandemic task forces, such as the National Capital Region, Batangas, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Pampanga, and Rizal.
The said HCFs must likewise have no Interim Reimbursement Mechanism Fund balance on record.
They must also be attending to COVID-19 patients or providing the SARS-COV-2 testing package and their accreditation is not suspended during the applicable period.
PhilHealth is set to issue a circular regarding the matter.
According to Roque, the new measure would ensure the continuous delivery of services.
"Through this measure, we are confident there would be continuous delivery of healthcare services, especially in identified areas of concern, amid the rising number of coronavirus active cases," he said.
The Philippines logged 9,216 new COVID-19 cases on April 8, bringing the total number of infections to 828,366.
Last week, the Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines (PHAPI) claimed that PhilHealth failed to pay its members P6 billion of reimbursements, forcing some hospitals to downsize its bed capacity to minimize their expenses.
Some hospitals also resorted to reducing working hours and work-from-home arrangements to get by during the pandemic.
Over the weekend, PhilHealth clarified that the P6 billion worth of supposed unpaid obligations to private hospitals represents returned or denied claims due to deficiencies and non-compliance.