Palace: PhilHealth expediting release of reimbursement

PhilHealth. Photo courtesy of doh.gov.ph

MANILA — The government is committed to fast-track the release of reimbursement for private hospitals for their services to Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) members, Malacanang said on Wednesday.

“The government will not renege on that obligation,” assured Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda in a Palace press briefing amid a plan of the Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines (PHAPi) not to honor benefits of PhilHealth patients due to delayed reimbursement.

Lacierda attributed the delayed processing to a new payment scheme undertaken by PhilHealth.

“It’s not about management, it’s about the payment system because we shifted to a case-based payment system so there are some glitches we need to address… The offices are adjusting (to the new scheme),” he noted.

Lacierda said that reimbursement process normally takes 60 days.

“But they are committing to pay it faster than the normal 60 days,” he added.

To squarely address the problem, Lacierda said the government is in constant discussion with PHAPi president Dr. Rustico Jimenez and some other hospital officials concerned.

”So we will look into it on a case-to-case, per hospital-based discussions,” he added.