ILOILO City – The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) has been very slow in releasing reimbursements to nine hospitals here. Its combined payables have now reached P521.08 million.
In a letter to Atty. Valerie Anne Hollero, PhilHealth regional vice president for Western Visayas, Mayor Jerry Treñas urged the state health insurer to pay the hospitals promptly so their operation won’t be hampered.
Ilonggo senator Franklin Drilon, too, has called for the speedy release of hospitals’ reimbursement claims in the ongoing Senate inquiry into the alleged irregularities at PhilHealth.
According to Drilon, “most or almost all” of Region 6’s 33 hospital claims had been filed by April 8, 2020 yet.
“Ang sistema sa loob ng PhilHealth ang dapat baguhin. Ayusin nila (para sa) mabilis na pag-reimburse ng claims,” said Drilon.
The Senate is particularly keen on PhilHealth’s implementation of the Interim Reimbursement Mechanism (IRM) scheme which turned out to be a cash advance program for hospitals and clinics directly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lawmakers, however, noted how the IRM was abused and became a source of politicking and corruption in the agency.
“’Yung mga hospitals hirap na, marami silang serbsiyo na nagawa na at humihingi ng reimbursement. Kung aayusin ang sistema at kaagad na maproseso itong mga claims, hindi kailangan itong IRM o cash advances na ginagawa nila,” said Drilon.
The Iloilo City hospitals waiting for their PhilHealth reimbursements are the following:
* The Medical City – P93 million
* West Visayas State University Medical Center – P35 million
* Medicus Medical Center – P30 million
* Metro Iloilo Hospital and Medical Center – P9 million
* Qualimed Hospital – P45 million
* Iloilo Doctor’s Hospital – P1.18 million
* St. Paul’s Hospital Iloilo – P85.9 million
* Western Visayas Medical Center – P137 million
* Iloilo Mission Hospital – P85 million
This concern was brought to the attention of top government officials who visited the city on Wednesday to assess the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) situation here. They were
Environment secretary Roy Cimatu, Presidential Adviser to the Visayas Mike Dino, Assistant Secretary Jonji Gonzales of the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas, and Melquiades Feliciano, the deputy chief implementer for the Visayas of the Interagency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Hospitals in Bacolod City have reimbursement concerns similar to Iloilo City hospitals. Dr. Julius Drilon, medical center chief of the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital (CLMMRH), recently said the delay in the processing and release of reimbursements would have a big effect on all healthcare institutions in Region 6.
“We are walking on a very thin line, balancing our expenses and also augmenting our other sources of income to support other operations. Electricity rate has gone up. Second, we have to hire extra people to replace our people who are quarantined because of COVID-19 exposure. If we cannot sustain this operation, we just have to choose the number of beds that we will allocate to our non-COVID patients. We might even shut down some of the areas,” said Dr. Drilon.
The total reimbursement of CLMMRH as of end of July has gone up to P153 million.
But Dr. Drilon said the “implication here is not just money but the social impact and the health impact to the community.”
Without reimbursements from PhilHealth, he said “we will have a hard time in the coming months to sustain our operation.”/PN
