CEBU CITY – The Philippine Health Insurance Corp.-Central Visayas (PhilHealth Region 7) maintained there was nothing irregular in the disbursement of COVID-19 claims.
In a statement, Edwin Oriña, regional vice president of PhilHealth, said the State insurance agency “continues to abide by the guidelines in processing claim documents per published circulars which are developed by its policy-making board and are approved by the PhilHealth Board.” Oriña issued the statement after the National Bureau of Investigation-Central Visayas (NBI Region 7) filed criminal and administrative charges against some officials and personnel of PhilHealth Region 7 and Adventist Hospital in Cebu City.
The NBI Region 7 said the State insurance agency erred when it approved and released at least P335,000 as reimbursement to the hospital where a patient died last May.
The NBI Region 7 said the COVID-19 disbursement was still released even if the two tests showed that the patient was negative for COVID-19.
Oriña, however, pointed out that the release of the claim was covered under a PhilHealth circular. “PhilHealth Circular 2020-0009 entitled ‘Benefit packages for inpatient care of probable and confirmed COVID-19 developing severe illness/outcomes’ published on April 14, 2020 in the Manila Bulletin was the basis of the regional office in processing claims. A copy of this circular can be accessed in the PhilHealth website.”