WellMed still gets PhilHealth payments – Lacson

VEHEMENT DENIAL Lawyers for WellMed Dialysis Center say their client “vehemently denies” allegations by its two former
employees that the clinic had been collecting payments for the dialysis of patients who have long died or have discontinued the
treatment using funds from the state-run Philippine Health Insurance Corp. —INQUIRER PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — The dialysis center that was uncovered to have allegedly managed to file “ghost” treatment claims and collect money from the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) has continued to get reimbursements from the government.

This was according to Senator Panfilo Lacson, who revealed in a privilege speech Monday that WellMed Dialysis Center still received repayments from PhilHealth up to June this year despite a previous exposé on its purported irregular practice.

Lacson, citing data from PhilHealth, said WellMed obtained reimbursements from government amounting to more than P4.24 million from January to June, with the dialysis center getting repaid with P1.22 million in June alone.

“Binobola lang pala tayo. Business as usual pa rin ang WellMed sa pagkubra ng reimbursements,” Lacson said in his privilege speech.

The senator also noted that WellMed was paid “in record speed” with turnaround time as short as two days although fraud allegations against it have already been made public.

“Kanino ba nagmamano itong may-ari ng WellMed at tila napakalas?” Lacson asked.

A Philippine Daily Inquirer report had previously exposed that WellMed filed claims with PhilHealth over dialysis treatments for patients who are already dead or have long stopped the treatment. /kga

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