Philippines
Luzon
SPMC dismisses PhilHealth controversy involving P326 M in compensation as 'baseless'
SPMC dismisses PhilHealth controversy involving P326 M in compensation as 'baseless'
DAVAO CITY – The Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) dismissed as “baseless” the controversy involving the P326 million in compensation that it received from the Interim Reimbursement Mechanism (IRM) of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PHIC) for COVID-19 patients.
“Very much baseless,” Dr. Ricardo Audan, the government hospital’s chief of clinics and health emergency, said in a phone interview.
Audan said the 1,500-bed hospital, considered as the country’s biggest government hospital, will need to pour in huge resources to sustain its operation to support not only the treatments of COVID-19 patients but also the basic needs of its medical frontliners.
He said that a “mega-hospital” like SPMC needed to pool in resources because it attracts a number of patients from several parts of Mindanao.
From March 16 to August 10, Audan said the hospital spent around P94 million for its COVID-19-related operations, including the treatment of suspects, probables, and confirmed cases numbering around 3,250, many of whom also came from other regions of Mindanao.
He added that the hospital has around 5,000 employees.
Aside from the treatments of its COVID-19 patients, Audan added that the hospital might even need additional budget since it also provides support to its medical workers.
“I think with this COVID, and you know, ang mamahal din kasi ng PPEs din (PPEs are very much expensive). I think we still need a budget because other than the patients, we also provide our frontliners with accommodation, food, transportation, so hindi lang ang patients pati din ang mga employees namin (not only patients but also our employees who are) frontliners they are also provided with PPEs -- everything,” he said.
As of Wednesday, he said the SPMC has 179 admitted COVID-19 patients.
He added that it was not surprising if the SPMC received the biggest budget because the government hospital’s collections and remittance to Philhealth surpassed that of other hospitals in the country.
“That’s not surprising because by history – from the start -- malaki na yung collections namin sa Philhealth and transmission malaki din (our collections for Philhealth were big, and even transmission).
The SPMC ranked first in terms of collections in 2007 and 2015, according to Audan.
He added that SPMC’s collections reached P1.2 billion in 2018, surpassing the 2015 collections of P1 billion, through the hospital management’s more aggressive strategy in enrolling clients in Philhealth.
“We were no. 1 in terms of collections, both private and public nationwide in 2007. In 2015, we were also no. 1 because we collected P1 billion, and in 2018, we collected P1.2 billion. Why is this so? We were very aggressive in our campaigns -- our Philhealth strategy – particularly in 2018, if you have no Phiheallth, we will have you enrolled ourselves,” he said.
He said the SPMC also expanded its services for kidney, heart, and cancer treatments.
“We have expanded our services and we are considered a mega-hospital throughout the Philippines. When you are a ‘mega-hospital,’ you will get many patients for that matter,” he said.
Presidential spokesperson Harry S. Roque said the Palace found “nothing irregular” in PhilHealth’s Interim Reimbursement Mechanism (IRM) allocation for SPMC.
“Per DOH, it is the biggest government hospital facility in the country. Last year, the hospital's total admissions were 76,586. There were also 586,278 outpatients in the same period,” he said.
He added that the SPMC has several integrated specialty buildings which are stand-alone, like the Heart Institute, the Institute for Women and Newborn Care, the Orthopedic and Rehabilitation Institute, the Cancer Institute, the Intensive Care Complex, and the main hospital for General Medicine and Surgery.
“It has the biggest hemodialysis in the country with 65 dialysis chairs,” he said.
He added that SPMC has the highest PhilHealth income.
“Its average income for 2018 to 2019 was P1.2-B and IRM is based on the monthly average or the track record of reimbursement for 2018-19,” he added.
Roque said the SPMC has the biggest amount of claims due to its regular provision of healthcare services to patients all over Mindanao.