House panel to mediate talks between PhilHealth, hospital group

MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives’ Committee on Health will mediate a dialogue between the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) and the Philippine Hospital Association (PHA) on August 24 to resolve differences.

The discussion will delve into the updated PhilHealth circular on the Temporary Suspension of Payment of Claims (TSPC) which seeks to curb further losses from fraud and overpayments.

The state insurer issued Circular 2021-0013 on the TSPC guidelines to strengthen its measures in the utilization of funds by identifying possible fraud or reimbursement abuse through dubious claims.

“We want to hold a dialogue between PhilHealth and the hospitals. We do not want the bridge to collapse. We want to rebuild whatever trust and partnership that are left between the state health insurer and our healthcare institutions or providers,” Quezon Representative Angelina “Helen” Tan, chair of the health committee, said in a statement on Sunday.

She added that they cannot allow the issue to persist as the country continues to face challenges in battling the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, the PHA, the Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines, and the Philippine Medical Association earlier announced that they were “disengaging” from PhilHealth.

The groups also cautioned that the bridge between healthcare providers and PhilHealth is “bound to collapse.”

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