The Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines, Inc. (PHAPI) said it is postponing its plan of holding a "PhilHealth holiday" which was supposed to happen from January 1 to 5, 2022.
“After the PHAPI meeting and hearing requests from concerned patients and citizens, PHAPI decided to temporarily hold implementation of the PhilHealth holiday,” said PHAPI President Dr. Jose de Grano in a text message on Wednesday, Dec. 29.
On Dec. 27, De Grano urged hospitals not to accept PhilHealth deductions for health services as a show of support to those hospitals who already announced that they will disengage with the state-health insurer.
Previously, private hospitals urged PhilHealth to settle its financial obligations to them. They said that the unpaid claims have already affected their operations.
In a radio interview on Wednesday, De Grano said that PhilHealth still owes private hospitals about P10 billion.
“Sabi nila nagbayad na sila ng mga P11 billion out of the P20 billion na pagkakautang nila. More or less P9 billion to P10 billion pa ang pagkakautang nila (They said they have paid about P11 billion out of the P20 billion they owe us. They still owe more or less P9 billion to P10 billion),” he said.
With this development, PhilHealth expressed its gratitude to private hospitals for postponing this move.
“We thank the hospitals for reconsidering their move to implement a PhilHealth holiday,” said the agency’s spokesperson Shirley Domingo in a text message.
“We in PhilHealth continue to work hard to ensure that we respond to their issues especially on claims reimbursement,” she added.
READ: https://mb.com.ph/2021/12/27/private-hospitals-group-pushes-for-philhealth-holiday/
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