BACOLOD City – The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) said it has nothing to do with the closure of the Bacolod Our Lady of Mercy Specialty Hospital.
PhilHealth issued the statement on Thursday, a day after the “hospital for the poor” – which was denied its 2018 accreditation for fraudulent acts – shut down.
The hospital closure affected a total of 401 workers.
“The closure of [the hospital] is a decision made by its own management and not by PhilHealth nor of the government,” the state health insurer said.
But the hospital can “continue to exist and operate to serve its local constituencies and for the welfare of its employees if it wants to even without accreditation,” according to PhilHealth.
On June 18, the hospital management received a letter from PhilHealth Region 6 stating that the hospital’s application for accreditation had been denied due to “conviction of fraudulent acts” committed by its previous management Tiong Bi, Inc.
The hospital is now managed by the Negros Healthcare Management Systems, Inc.
But PhilHealth said the hospital cannot evade liability even if the fraudulent acts were committed by its previous management.
Following this development, PhilHealth has stopped releasing the claims of the hospital from March to June this year, prompting the management to announce the hospital’s supposed closure on June 30.
On June 22, Mayor Evelio Leonardia called for a dialogue between PhilHealth officials and the hospital management.
The dialogue delayed the closure to July 30.
On June 25, the hospital management filed a motion for reconsideration before PhilHealth Region 6.
The hospital’s lawyer Rafael Ocampo Jr. had asked PhilHealth to reconsider and set aside the denial of the health facility’s reaccreditation and to issue a new order approving its accreditation until Dec. 31, 2018.
No action has been released regarding the appeal as of July 31. (With a report from PNA/PN)
