PhilHealth urged to pay hospital’s COVID-19 expenses

A senator is already expediting the payment of its debts to hospitals by the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) in conjunction with the scheduled implementation of enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Metro Manila.

According to Senator Grace Poe, PhilHealth and the Department of Budget and Management must ensure that they pay for the COVID-19 claims of the hospitals, which in turn are used by them in operation.

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“We’ve been in this trying situation for over a year, and both the DBM and PhilHealth have last year’s experience to draw from to improve their services in the next round of ECQ,” said Poe.

She said it is a public health emergency, so everything must be done to pay the hospitals on time.

Poe added that the number of COVID-19 cases is increasing, and there is even a threat of the Delta variant, so it is important that hospitals have the funds to prepare their supplies and staff.

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“Our hospitals must be adequately staffed and stocked with the needed supplies. They can only do so if they themselves aren’t bleeding. We ought not to exacerbate an already tenuous situation by demoralizing our medical frontliners.”

PhilHealth urged to pay hospital’s COVID-19 expenses

The group of hospitals had previously complained that PhilHealth was withholding payment from them.

At the Senate subcommittee on health hearing on the Pandemic Protection Act proposal last month, the president of the Philippine Hospital Association (PHA), Dr. Jaime Almora, said they are more afraid of the new variant that could cause more cases.

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“Itong variant na padating dito kami natatakot. With the current problem we are now facing in the hospitals, our lack of manpower, and unresolved problems of COVID-19 claims, we are really in a big problem. Considering our countrymen are tired being quarantined or isolated,” he said.

The PHA, which comprises public and private hospitals, also has a problem with PhilHealth’s slowness in paying their COVID-19 claims.

Almora said only 15 percent of the total claims of their member-hospitals had been paid by PhilHealth since March 2020.

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