The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) still 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.
De Grano said 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 (We have a big problem with this.),” De Grano said.
“We are still waiting for the decision of the PhilHealth main office on how it will address this situation,” he said.
De Grano also 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 percent and 62 percent, respectively.
The utilization of ventilators in Metro Manila and nationwide, on the other hand, were both at 45 percent.
“The percentage of moderate, severe COVID-19 cases increased from 5 percent to 12 percent 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.
De Grano added that “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.”
