The state-run Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) has yet to pay at least P834 million worth of dues to private hospitals across the country, the Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines, Inc. (PHAPI) said Tuesday.
“We still receive complaints from private hospitals that their expected payment from Philhealth dating back to COVID-19 cases in 2020 have been delayed. There have been payments in trickles on recent non-COVID-19 cases, but those COVID-19 claims back in 2020, most of these remain unpaid,” PHAPI President and Dr. Jose Rene De Grano said during the Laging Handa briefing.
Grano added that these unpaid claims included the P834 million unpaid dues to eight hospitals in General Santos, seven hospitals in Iloilo City as well as several hospitals in Northern Luzon.
“Malaki pa po ang problema natin diyan,” Grano said.
(We have a big problem with this.)
“We are still waiting for the decision of the PhilHealth main office on how it will address this situation,” he added.
COVID-19 health care utilization
Likewise, de Grano said that the public should stay vigilant even if the percentage of health care utilization in Metro Manila amid the COVID-19 pandemic had decreased.
Based on government records, the utilization of Intensive Care Unit beds in Metro Manila and nationwide was at 59% and 62%, respectively.
The utilization of ventilators in Metro Manila and nationwide, on the other hand, were both at 45%.
“The percentage of moderate, severe COVID-19 cases increased from 5% to 12% because we have to remember that those who get hospitalized due to COVID-19 spend two weeks to one month in the hospital,” he said.
“Since it takes time before they are discharged, the number of our moderate and severe COVID-19 cases won’t immediately go down. So we should not be complacent and instead observe minimum health standards at all times,” he added. — DVM, GMA News
0 Comments