Senator Sonny Angara on Thursday, August 5 urged the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) to expedite the settlement of all hospital claims to better prepare them in dealing with the possible surge of COVID-19 cases due to the Delta variant.
Angara said it is imperative that hospitals are prepared to deal with the extreme pressures of the current health crisis, noting that many of these institutions are facing financial difficulties and are forced to downsize their operations.
“With the arrival of the Delta variant, there should be no disruption at all for our hospitals, especially when a surge in cases is highly possible,” Angara said.
“All efforts should be exerted by PhilHealth to settle the claims of these hospitals, particularly those that have been delayed for some time already,” he added.
Last July, Angara filed Senate Resolution No. 774 asking the Senate to look into the delayed payment of claims by PhilHealth and to find ways to speed up the processing of these claims.
He filed the measure after the Philippine Hospital Association (PHA) and the Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines Inc. (PHAPI) complained about delayed reimbursements and reported that several of their members have been experiencing severe financial distress due to their unpaid claims from PhilHealth.
PHA officials said the claims of their members range from P50-million to P700-million, with one hospital accruing up to P1.2 billion. According to Almora, many of these health care facilities are forced to “dig into their own savings” or borrow from banks for their operating budget.
On the other hand, PHAPI disclosed that PhilHealth has accumulated an estimated P28- billion in unpaid claims to private hospitals covering the period of March to December 2020.
While PhilHealth has responded with initiatives to expedite payment, the senator noted the amounts settled are but a small fraction of what is due to these providers.
Based on the Direct Credit Payment Method scheme implemented by PhilHealth, Angara noted only P6.3-billion in hospital claims have been released to 206 health care facilities.
“This is but a drop in the bucket if we consider the P28 billion in unpaid claims cited by the PHAPI,” he said.
‘Something must be done to improve the processes of PhilHealth so that the operations of our hospitals will not be affected especially during this time,” the lawmaker stressed.