Palace calls on hospitals to avail of PhilHealth's Debit Credit Payment Method

Malacañang said Tuesday that hospitals should avail of PhilHealth's payment scheme which initially pays claims partially pending submission of requirements for faster payment.

Acting presidential spokesperson Karlo Nograles was responding to the query on what would be the Palace's call on hospitals given that seven hospitals in Iloilo decided to cut ties with state insurer PhilHealth due to the accumulation of unpaid dues amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Because of President Duterte's directive, there has been the Debit Credit Payment Method (DCPM) of payment for PhilHealth [claims]. We call on hospitals to avail of that for faster payment of dues," Nograles said.

PhilHealth said that hospitals in Iloilo are eligible for the DCPM. 

“The Corporation averred that hospitals in Iloilo City have been qualified to avail of the said mechanism ever since they started experiencing a surge in COVID cases early this year,” it said.

“It called on the seven hospitals to avail of the DCPM so as to expedite payments, thereby ensuring and protecting the welfare of the members in the said region."

Under DCPM, only 60% would initially be paid to hospitals and the 40% would be paid upon completion of processing requirements.

"PhilHealth is already preparing for the third wave [of payment under DCPM]," Nograles added.

The first phase of the DCPM covers claims filed from March 8, 2020 to April 7, 2021. The second phase, on the other hand, covered claims lodged from April 8 to August 9, 2021.

The DCPM, however, only covers healthcare facilities (HCFs), including previous recipients from the initial implementation of the payment mechanism that meet the following criteria:

• must be in high and critical areas identified by the Inter-Agency Task Force or National Task Force Against COVID-19 (IATF/NTF),
• must have no Interim Reimbursement Mechanism fund balance on record with claims for PhilHealth COVID-19 packages, and
• was not serving the penalty of suspension during the applicable period.

PhilHealth said it has released a total of P165.8 billion in claims since January. It has released two waves of payments amounting to P11.04 billion under the DCPM.

“Under the third wave, hospitals nationwide are qualified to apply as long as they are managing COVID cases and are offering the PhilHealth testing packages, have fully liquidated their IRM (internal reimbursement mechanism), and have no legal cases with PhilHealth,” it added. — DVM/VBL, GMA News