‘Some hospitals to disengage from PhilHealth’

MANILA, Philippines — Some private hospitals in Metro Manila and in the provinces are keen to disengage from the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) over its continued failure to pay reimbursement claims, the Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines Inc. (PHAPi) said yesterday.

“They already signified that they will no longer renew their accreditation with PhilHealth,” PHAPi president Jose Rene de Grano said.

The official noted that hospitals in Metro Manila, Iloilo, Cagayan Valley and General Santos City are now planning to cut their ties with the state insurer.

He added that in the next two weeks, other hospitals are expected to announce that they will also no longer apply for renewal of their PhilHealth accreditation.

De Grano said they had expected PhilHealth to come up with some concrete solutions to the unpaid claims of hospitals by the end of October but nothing has happened.

These unpaid claims are mostly for the services rendered by hospitals to COVID-19 patients.

“We’ve had so many meetings with them since August. Our deadline for PhilHealth to make some good solutions to what we are asking is end of October,” he said.

The state insurer said its unpaid reimbursement claims amounted to less that P20 million to hospitals nationwide.

“PhilHealth paid the recent claims but we do not understand why they have not paid the hospitals’ COVID-19 claims in 2020. It’s been more than a year already,” De Grano complained.

He added that PhilHealth had announced that it already paid P10 billion and they want to know from the agency where these payments exactly went.

He maintained that hospitals are having difficulties sustaining their operations because of PhilHealth’s unpaid obligations.