Some hospitals plan to cut ties with PhilHealth due to P20-B debt

According to a group, some hospitals are planning to break away from the accreditation of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp (PhilHealth) next year due to ongoing state health insurer debt.

As of August, PhilHealth’s unpaid claims to private hospitals have reached P20 billion, according to the Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines (PHAPi) President Dr. Jose Rene de Grano.

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“May sinasabi sila na nagbayad sila ng P10 billion but this we have yet to verify kasi we have to ask our hospitals kung talagang may dumating sa kanila na payments. Right now, ang aming mga tintanong na hospitals, nagco-complain,” said De Grano.

Among those planning to leave PhilHealth are seven private hospitals in Iloilo City, where PhilHealth has P545 million in unpaid claims against them.

According to Dr. Elmer Pedregosa, administrator of Iloilo Mission Hospital, operations, and hospital supplies are affected by unpaid claims.

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“What will be affected are the operations and payables. First, you have your fixed cost that you have to pay, like electricity and water,” said Pedregosa.

“At the same time, payables to suppliers and pharmaceuticals. [Personal protective equipment], medicine, the operations of the hospital and the care you are giving, you service, will really be greatly affected,” he added.

According to De Grano, many other private hospitals in Metro Manila and the provinces are likely to also announce their non-renewal of accreditation with PhilHealth in the coming weeks.

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Some hospitals plan to cut ties with PhilHealth due to P20-B debt

De Grano explained that for COVID-19 patients alone, hospitals have run out of money.

A moderate case of COVID-19 has up to P143,000 in benefits paid by PhilHealth.

When there are 10 moderate cases in 1 week, the hospital will immediately shoulder P1.4 million.

Due to the size of PhilHealth’s debt, hospitals have difficulty in their day-to-day operations.

Several senators have also urged PhilHealth to immediately repay their debts to hospitals to not have a failure in the health care system.

This includes Sen. Sonny Angara, Risa Hontiveros, and Christopher “Bong” Go.

According to Malacañang, President Rodrigo Duterte has spoken to PhilHealth President Dante Gierran several times about PhilHealth’s debt and the importance of private hospitals in this pandemic.

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