PhilHealth vows to pay bulk of P27-B hospital dues in 90 days

Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) on Wednesday vowed to pay "high percentage" of its P27 billion worth of hospital dues within 90 days.

PhilHealth president and CEO Emmanuel Ledesma Jr. made the announcement after Agri party-list representative Wilbert Lee pointed out that it is baffling that PhilHealth has accumulated billions of unpaid hospital claims when the state-run corporation has P466 billion in investible funds and P68.4 billion worth of net income so far.

“Our payables in process... those roughly [unpaid for] 60 days, is P13 billion. The total is P27 billion,” Ledesma said during the deliberations on the Department of Health (DOH)'s P199 billion proposed budget for 2024 before the House appropriations panel.

“We will complete payment, hopefully, in high percentage, within 90 days, of the P27 billion. This is on record. Within 90 days, we will try to pay a very high percentage of the P27 billion,” Ledesma added.

Ledesma said they will be using the Debit Credit Payment Method (DCPM) formula in accelerating the payment of hospital claims.

Under the DCPM scheme, PhilHealth will pay at least 80% of the claims of hospitals while the rest will be paid upon completion of processing requirements.

“We will make sure that the reconciliation [of data] will be accelerated, and based on our discussions with hospital officials yesterday, I am confident that within 90 days from today, the bulk, majority, if not all of the P27 billion will be paid off,” Ledesma told the panel. —KBK, GMA Integrated News