PhiHealth spox: Nearly 80% of hospital claims paid

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) has already paid nearly 80 percent of hospital claims, its spokesperson said Saturday, amid complaints about slow disbursement of claims during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Shirley Domingo, also PhilHealth’s Vice President for Corporate Affairs, said the state insurer has already paid P231 billion it owes to hospitals for the claims of its beneficiaries.

“Doon sa total claims, whether COVID or non-COVID, nakapagbayad na tayo ng 79 percent ng total claims na ibinigay sa atin. So paid na ‘yun. that’s around P231 [billion],” she said at the Laging Handa public briefing.

(For the total claims, whether COVID or non-COVID, we have already paid 79 percent of the claims. So that is already paid. That’s around P231 [billion].)

“‘Yung total amount kasi na isinumbit sa atin is around P259 billion so mga 80 percent, 79.6 percent as of now ang nabayaran na po natin,” she added.

(The total amount submitted to us is around P259 billion so nearly 80 percent, 79.6 percent have already been paid.)

Domingo said in a text message to INQUIRER.net that the figure covers claims from 2019 to 2021

Meanwhile, Domingo added that PhilHealth has released P6.3 billion to 206 healthcare institutions under its Debit-Credit Payment Method (DCPM). The DCPM is applicable to high-risk and critical areas for COVID-19 and is intended to facilitate the settlements of accounts payable to healthcare facilities to ensure the continuous delivery of health services during the pandemic.

Domingo has assured that processing is ongoing for the rest of the unpaid claims. She said the turnaround time for processing “good claims” is 43 days.

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