Vets unaware of hospital aid–COA

MANILA, Philippines—Medical help from the government is available to retired soldiers but only a few know about it, the Commission on Audit (COA) has found.

The COA said only a few veterans availed themselves of the hospitalization benefits program at Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) in 2010 due to the lack of a project monitoring system and noncooperation between the hospital and the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO).

The VMMC was quick to tell the COA, however, that this year it had taken steps to work with the PVAO to address the concerns about the program raised by the auditors.

The VMMC implements the Veterans Hospitalization Benefits Program for which the PVAO allotted P5.358 million. This responsibility was transferred to the hospital in 2009 by the Department of National Defense in a memorandum.

In its 2010 report on the VMMC, the COA said that from March 2009 to December 2010, only P2.386 million of the hospitalization fund was spent, leaving a balance of P2.971 million.

The VMCC told the COA the low turnout was due to most veterans being unaware of the program or preferring to go to PhilHealth-accredited hospitals instead. Some veterans also felt they would not get the best care in VMMC-accredited hospitals, while others found the availment process to be tedious, it said.

The COA found that the VMMC had been acting merely as custodian of the PVAO funds and was not actually administering the program, contrary to what was mandated in the DND memorandum.

The VMMC’s role was only to pay the bills forwarded by hospitals from the regions and liquidating the funds with the PVAO, the audit agency said.

There was also an admitted lack of information dissemination about the program because of restraints on the use of the fund, resulting in retired soldiers not knowing that help was available to them, the COA said.

It said there was no dedicated monitoring unit or committee that was concerned with planning and strategizing, and which could address concerns so that the program could be managed efficiently.

There was also no assessment of whether the purpose of the fund was accomplished.

“The VMMC merely focused on the utilization and accounting of the fund. It appears the hospital failed to fully appreciate its real role in the implementation of the program as envisioned by the aforementioned memorandum. Moreover, it shows the lack of coordination between the PVAO and the VMMC on the program,” the COA said.

It recommended that the VMMC and PVAO talk about fully transferring the veterans’ hospitalization program to the VMMC. It also said there should be a monitoring unit to focus on the efficient implementation of the program.

Meanwhile, the COA also found the VMMC had overpaid bills submitted by accredited hospitals by P147,626 because of a wrong computation.

The overpayment stemmed from the hospital bills being based on the P800-per day rate stated in a PVAO memorandum which raised the daily allowance for hospitalization and medical expenses from P400 to P800.

Some hospitals charged the full P800 daily allowance even if the actual bill was lower.

The COA said hospital bills should state the actual amount and not the P800 rate which should serve only as the allowance limit.