Private hospitals urged: Honor PhilHealth benefits

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. yesterday warned members of the Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines Inc. (PHAPi) against pushing through with its plan not to honor the benefits of PhilHealth patients.

“I hope they won’t do that because we will really act on that. We will sanction them, one way or the other, maybe through fines, suspension or (cancellation) of their accreditation with PhilHealth,” said Alex Padilla, PhilHealth president and chief executive officer.

He said hospital owners would be doing a “greater disservice” to their patients if they do not recognize their PhilHealth membership.

He said it would also violate the “Performance Commitment” that hospital owners have executed when they were accredited by PhilHealth.

PHAPi president Rustico Jimenez said they would ask patients to pay PhilHealth’s share of their hospital bills and apply for reimbursement directly with PhilHealth.

Jimenez complained that it takes at least six months for PhilHealth to process their claims, gravely affecting hospital operations.

Padilla, however, said the delay in reimbursements to private hospitals was due to some “connectivity problem” with the implementation of the “case-based payments,” which started in January.

“We admit that we had connectivity problem in some regions but we are addressing that. We had an emergency meeting and we promise to release their payments within 60 days or less, depending on the problem,” he said.

In a letter to The STAR, Padilla said PhilHealth had been “experiencing technical challenges that are part of the innovation’s birth pains.”

“But rest assured that we are working double-time to address these glitches and save our partner-providers from further inconvenience,” he said.

Padilla said PhilHealth is keeping its lines open for PHAPi to “further discuss the matter with us, in the confines of our working environment.”