Gierran likely to stop PhilHealth’s IRM

MANILA, Philippines — Newly appointed Philippine Health Insurance Corp. president and chief executive officer Dante Gierran is not keen on continuing PhilHealth’s controversial interim reimbursement mechanism (IRM).

In an interview with “The Chiefs” aired over OneNews/TV5 on Tuesday night, Gierran said the IRM was supposed to be used by hospital-beneficiaries for coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19 cases.

However, he said the fund was used for “something else.”

Aside from this, Gierran said the IRM was implemented by PhilHealth even without approval from the state insurer’s board.

“Why will you not seek a board approval? It’s a corporation that operates through board resolutions, so why make an exemption out of COVID? How long does it take to issue or deliberate board resolutions,” Gierran said.

The IRM is a reimbursement scheme for the services rendered by health facilities to PhilHealth members.

But during the pandemic, Gierran said the IRM was used to provide cash advance to hospitals, which contradicted the purpose that it was created for.

“Why will you continue if it has problems,” he added, referring to the IRM.

Gierran said his marching order from President Duterte is to stop corruption in PhilHealth and jail the corrupt.– Sheila Crisostomo, Emmanuel Tupas