PhilHealth asked to speed up reimbursements

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (Philhealth) owes about 60 hospitals around P1 billion, the Private Hospital Association of the Philippines (PHAP) said.

Dr. Rustico Jimenez, PHAP president, said many of these hospitals are in Central Luzon, Ilocos Region and in Western Visayas.

“The program of President Aquino for universal coverage through Philhealth will fail if Philhealth will not pay us doctors and hospitals on time,” he said.

Jimenez asked Philhealth to speed up the processing of the reimbursements of doctors and hospitals.

The agency is pushing some hospitals into bankruptcy, he added.

Jimenez said it usually takes Philhealth six months to pay doctors and hospitals. 

“We hope that Philhealth can do something about this,” he said.

“We might not admit anymore Philhealth patients in the future.”

It was not the first time that PHAP complained about delayed release of payment by Philhealth. It had to thoroughly screen reimbursements to weed out padded claims by unscrupulous doctors and hospitals, PHAP said.

Health Secretary Enrique Ona sees the computerization of Philhealth records as the best way to accelerate the agency’s operations.