Hospitals should avail themselves of the new debit-credit payment scheme of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) to speed up the payment by the state insurer to their unpaid reinbursement claims, a Palace official said on Tuesday, Dec. 14.
Acting presidential spokesman Karlo Nograles echoed the call of PhilHealth when Malacañang was asked about its “intervention” on private hospitals cutting ties with PhilHealth over the unpaid dues amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“President Duterte has already issued a directive in our previous Cabinet meeting to pay the hospitals immediately. So because of that directive, we have this Debit-Credit Payment Method,” Nograles said in his virtual presser.
The Palace official noted the PhilHealth is already preparing for the third wave of payment through the DCPM.
Under the DCPM, only 60 percent would initially be paid to hospitals and the 40 percent would be paid upon completion of the processing requirements.
The DCPM was first implemented for claims received from March 8 to April 7 this year. The second phase covered claims lodged from April 8 to Aug. 9.
“So ang panawagan ng PhilHealth sa mga hospitals ay (the call of PhilHealth to hospitals is) to cooperate with their DCPM method so that mas mabilis bayaran (they will get faster payment),” he said.
Seven private hospitals in Iloilo City cut ties with PhilHealth because the state insurer couldn’t fulfill its obligations under Republic Act 7875 or the National Health Insurance Act.
READ: 7 Iloilo City hospitals to cut PhilHealth ties
Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines Inc. (PHAPI) president Jose Rene de Grano said more hospitals in General Santos, Quezon province, Isabela and Metro Manila are expected to disengage from PhilHealth.
De Grano lamented that their group has been negotiating with PhilHealth in the past three months but there was no clear and concrete solutions offered to them.
Managements of private hospitals claim that PhilHealth has yet to pay their claims which already amounted to more than P26 billion as of August 2021.