Duque: PhilHealth reimbursements will continue despite investigations

The release of Philippine Health Insurance Corporations' reimbursements to hospitals and other health care facilities will continue amid the COVID-19 pandemic, even though the agency's Internal Reimbursement Mechanism (IRM) has been suspended, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said Thursday.

Duque made the assurance after the resignations of PhilHealth President Ricardo Morales, and Senior Vice President Rodolfo del Rosario in the middle of ongoing multiple probes on PhilHealth "irregularities" --largely due to the release of P15 billion IRM fund, of which P14 billion is still unaccounted for by state auditors.

“Iyong usual reimbursement ng PhilHealth, patuloy po iyan. Patuloy po iyang benepisyo po ng ating mga kababayan na pasyente,” Duque said during an inspection of a quarantine facility for COVID-19 patients in Laguna.

“Iyang reimbursement po sa mga ospital, patuloy iyan. That is part of their (PhilHealth) operations,” added Duque, who chairs the PhilHealth Board in his capacity as Health Secretary.

Duque, however, assured stakeholders that PhilHealth is already plugging holes in the controversial IRM mechanism.

“Iyong IRM na subject ng investigations, pinag-aaralan at nirerepaso na po iyan ng PhilHealth para tugunan ang issues on withholding tax, palakasan [among beneficiary hospitals], at legal basis niya,” Duque said.

“Pinag-aaralan kung saan ba nagkaron ng puwang, paano masasarhan ang puwang na iyon in a policy and operational level, para mas matugunan ang issues,” he added.

Likewise, Duque said that President Rodrigo Duterte has accepted the resignations of PhilHealth officials Morales, and Del Rosario.

Also, he assured the public that Morales, and Del Rosario remain obligated to cooperate with the ongoing investigations. —LBG, GMA News