PhilHealth pays P10 M in Covid-19 claims

The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) recently announced that it has paid P10 million in claims from 498 public and private hospital facilities attending patients infected with the Coronavirus (Covid-19) disease.

Henry Almanon, PhilHealth regional vice president for Bicol, in a news briefing, said 2,728 claims from various Covid-19 health facilities in the region were processed of which about 300 claims were denied due to questionable claims documents that did not conform with the agency’s guidelines.

"We have accredited 498 public and private hospital facilities, most of these healthcare providers can address Covid-19 case," he said.

He said so far the agency has no outstanding claims from accredited hospital facilities providing Covid-19 health services due to the new digitized platform where the processing of payments is done within 21 days.

The P10 million spent for Covid-19 came from the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), which was earmarked to pay claims from hospital facilities that admitted patients with mild, moderate, and severe cases of the viral infections.

When asked about the financial state of PhilHealth in Bicol, Almanon said “our financial standing here is strong, as we maintain two year reserved funds to keep the corporation in good standing.”

Almanon said PhilHealth Bicol so far ranks second in a nationwide agency with a sound and stable financial position, “we have no backlogs in the payment of claims,” he added.

As this developed, Dr. Vicky T. Mateum, PhilHealth chief of the Health Care Delivery and Management Division, in a phone interview said that currently, it has 20,000 regular claims that are being processed through the digitized platform.

She said the claims are from public and private hospital facilities, out-patient clinics and dialysis centers, and rural health units across the region.