PhilHealth Speaks on Delay of Claims by Hospitals
PHILHEALTH – The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation admitted and revealed the reason behind the delay of the hospital claims.
The COVID-19 pandemic has undeniably shaken the healthcare system in the Philippines. Several hospitals reached their full capacity for coronavirus patients amid the increasing cases in the country. It is more than a year now since the fight against the virus started worldwide.
The spike in coronavirus cases prompted several local government units and healthcare facilities to put up hospital tents to be able to accommodate more patients. Currently, the admission process is no longer the same compared to the procedures before the pandemic happened.
Amid the health crisis, many hospitals complain that PhilHealth has yet to pay them in full. The state-run health insurance institution admitted the delay during a budget hearing recently held in the Senate.
Based on a report on ABS-CBN News, PhilHealth chief Dante Gierran expressed that there is an increase in the claims during the pandemic resulting to the delay. The budget hearing was held in line with the funds for the Department of Health (DOH) next year.
According to Gierran, in 2020, they had an average of 31,000 claims in a day. Now, it has increased to 39,000 claims daily which “swarmed” the agency. Based on the report, the Health Chief is blaming the delay to the pandemic most especially that they have limited workforce now as some of their people got sick.
Sadly, Gierran expressed that some of their employees even died of COVID-19. He assured that they are doing something to address the problem although they cannot tell everyone about what they are going through due to the situation now.
Senator Risa Hontiveros stressed that the delays were already a problem even before the pandemic started so she does not believe that it is a key factor. Gierran expressed that they are now implementing the debit-credit payment.
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