House panels to invite execs from various hospitals with alleged fraud violations

MANILA, Philippines — Officials from various hospitals with supposed pending fraudulent violations will be invited to a House hearing amid the alleged anomalies hounding the Philippine Health Insurance Corp.(PhilHealth).

During the joint hybrid hearing of the House committee on public accounts and the committee on good government and public accountability, Anakalusugan Rep. Mike Defensor named several hospitals with supposed fraudulent violations from 2013 to 2018.

Defensor serves as the chairperson of the House committee on public accounts.

“Ipapatawag natin itong mga ospital na supposedly ang violations nito from 2013 to 2018. Isa lamang ang ospital na sinama ko dito na maraming violations noon 2019,” Defensor said.

In a list provided by Defensor to the media following the hearing, among the hospitals to be summoned include the Abra Provincial Hospital, Baguio General Hospital, Benguet General Hospital, Cagayan de Oro Maternity Children’s Hospital, Bontoc General Hospital, Divine World Hospital, Domingo Casano Hospital, University of Perpetual Help Dalta Medical Center Inc., and Quezon City Eye Center, among many others.

“Lahat yan ay may kayo from 2013 to 2018. Pinakamababa po diyan ay may dalawang kaso. Pero more or less, more than 10 cases,” Defensor said.

In a text message to reporters, Defensor said the officials will be called since the House committees “want to know the nature of the cases and understand how fraud is committed in PhilHealth.”

“’Yung fraud , to my mind, is committed with the hospitals. We have to understand how it’s being done. For example, sa pneumonia dapat may x-ray. Paano kung may usapan and hindi na i-require?” Defensor said.

Meanwhile, Laguna Rep. Dan Fernandez said that the committee should also look into “decided cases” and not just pending cases.[ac]