Drilon wants PhilHealth’s IRM abolished

MANILA, Philippines — Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon wants the interim reimbursement mechanism (IRM) for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) abolished, saying the agency can still provide its services without it.

He said there is no need for the IRM if PhilHealth will fast-track the payment of hospital reimbursements and claims on time.

Drilon said the scrapping of the IRM, which he described as a mere cash advance to hospitals, will not and should not affect the services of the state insurer.

“PhilHealth programs will not be affected even if we get rid of this IRM. PhilHealth will and should continue to pay for the hospitalization of COVID-19 patients even if we scrap this IRM fraught with irregularities,” Drilon said in a statement.

The IRM is a system where PhilHealth pays hospitals and healthcare facilities in advance for insurance claims, to ensure that they could function during crises.

PhilHealth has temporarily suspended the program amid reports of irregularities.

Drilon PhilHealth should speed up the reimbursement or payment of claims of the hospitals that treated COVID-19 patients but were excluded from the IRM and required hospitals that received a total of P14.9 billion in cash advances to liquidate the funds immediately.

“They should improve their system and reimburse the hospitals on time. Then, there is no need for this IRM. The hospitals are suffering from these delayed payments,” he said.

The Senate Minority Leader also took a swipe at Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, who sits as the chairman of PhilHealth.

Drilon said Duque cannot escape liability being the head of the state insurer.

“Corruption has been going on under his nose for years yet we heard nothing from him. Did he do something to prevent it?” Drilon said in a separate statement.

“First of all, what did he do to lessen, if not totally eradicate, this corruption and frauds in PhilHealth?” he added.

/MUF