Private hospitals seek orderly, easeful PhilHealth transactions from Marcos gov't

The Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines (PHAPI) on Saturday called for an orderly structure within the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), as well as an easeful transaction of claims within the insurance provider, under the incoming Marcos administration.

"Kung maaayos po natin ang organisasyon ng PhilHealth nang sa gano'n ay makaayon sa mga hinihiling ng ating pribadong ospital, kahit siguro government hospital, ay palagay ko maganda po 'yon na maisakatuparan nang sa gano'n ang healthcare system ay magiging maganda para sa susunod na anim na taon," PHAPI President Dr. Rene Jose de Grano said at the Laging Handa briefing.

(If we can fix the organization of PhilHealth so that it could address the requests of our private hospitals, and even government hospitals, I think that would be ideal so that we can have a decent healthcare system for the next six years.)

De Grano added that smooth transactions within PhilHealth under the new administration would lead to the effective implementation of the Universal Health Care law.

"Doon sa naging karanasan namin ilang taon sa PhilHealth, 'yun po ang palagay kong dapat pagtuunan ng pansin ng bagong administrasyon, na sana po ay hindi tayo magkaroon ng problema sa ating claims sa Philhealth, nang sa gano'n hindi magkaroon ng problem sa operasyon ang ating private hospitals na masyadong nagre-rely sa reimbursements ng ating claims sa PhilHealth,"

(Based on our experience with PhilHealth for the past years, the new administration should focus on trouble-free transactions with our Philhealth claims so that we would not have a problem with the operation of our private hospitals that rely on reimbursements of PhilHealth claims.)

PhilHealth, at the start of the year, committed to settling over P25 billion worth of claims from private hospitals within the first half of 2022.

At a hearing of the House Committee on Health, PhilHealth President Dante Gierran said the state health insurer was already processing P25.45 billion of payments to hospitals through its Debit-Credit Payment Method.

The state health insurer meanwhile assured its members that their contributions would be used to help Filipinos ease the burden of hospitalization and expand other benefits amid the impending increase in the monthly premium rate next month and its retroactive effect from the start of the year.

Healthcare workers going abroad

PHAPI, meanwhile, expressed concerns over the increasing number of healthcare workers seeking jobs abroad, saying this could limit the capacity of hospitals in the country to admit patients.

"'Yan nga po ang medyo ikinababahala lagi ng aming hanay ng pribadong ospital dahil po sa kasalukuyan, kami po ang nauunang naaapektuhan ng pag-alis ng ating nurses," de Grano said.

(That is what the private hospitals usually worry about because currently, we are the first to be affected by the departure of our nurses.)

The PHAPI thus appealed for government control of the deployment of nurses abroad.

"Siyempre ang main reason nila, mas malaki ang naio-offer sa abroad. Siyempre hindi naman namin kayang pantayan kung ano ang maibibigay ng ating foreign hospitals. Siguro dapat ma-control natin ang paglabas ng ating nurses nang sa gano'n hindi tayo maubusan ng ating nurses right now," de Grano added.

(Their main reason is that they offer larger salaries abroad. Of course, we cannot match what our foreign hospitals can provide. Perhaps we should be able to control the deployment of our nurses so that we would not run out of them.) — DVM, GMA News