PhilHealth owes Albay hospital P150 M for Covid-19 treatment

By Cet Dematera

The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) owed the Bicol Regional Training and Teaching Hospital (BRTTH) P150-million in unpaid claims.

BRTTH chief Dr. Eric Raborar said though that there is a continuing talk with PhilHealth to find ways for the latter to pay the hospital of its unpaid claims for Covid-19 treatment of patients “We are continuously having dialogues with Philhealth so that we could come up with possible ways for them to settle their reimbursements to BRTTH,” Raborar said.

He said that the reimbursements that PhilHealth has to pay already accumulated to around P150 million for treatments of Covid-19 patients since the virus spiked last year.

“If our patients are buying treatment medicines and kits outside BRTTH, we are reimbursing them. That’s why big chunk of our budget is slashed for the Covid-19 treatments,” Raborar explained.

At the height of the surge of Covid-19 cases, BRTTH has been converted into a full-referral hospital for virus infected patients and no longer admit other walk in non-Covid patients.

Raborar said that whenever BRTTH is running out of budget for its daily operations, it is asking augmentation of funds either from the Bicol regional office of the Department of Health or from their central office.

“We are immediately asking for fund augmentation from DOH in Bicol or at our central office. In this manner, our operations are not really grossly affected,” he added.

BRTTH is accepting Covid-infected patients from as far as Masbate, Sorsogon and Catanduanes.

Raborar also commended the local government units (LGUs) that are helping them in treatments of patients coming from their localities.

“These assistance that come in many forms from our LGUs are really helping us a lot in coping with the difficulties being brought to the health workers by this pandemic,” he said.

Legazpi City, as example, partnered with Glacier Liberty Refrigeration Services Corp. to use the firm’s 3,500-square-meter refrigarated warehouse in Barangay Bonot for the Covid-19 vaccines that arrived middle of this year.