DOH up to date with payments, unpaid private hospitals lack documents —Herbosa

Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa said Wednesday the government is up to date in settling the claims of private hospitals serving indigent patients amid reported problem with guarantee letters issued by politicians.

In an Unang Balita interview, Herbosa said he is looking into reports of alleged P480 million unpaid guarantee letters to hospitals in Batangas.

“Actually, tinanong ko sa aming regional directors ito. According to them, ang kanilang turn-around time ng pagbabayad ay nasa three months so mukhang updated naman sila at 'yung mga di bayad, karamihan po diyan may kakulangan ng documentary requirements ng regional offices,” he said.

(Their turn-around time for payments are within three months so it seems like they are updated, and those who are unpaid are mostly the ones with insufficient documentary requirements in regional offices.)

“Baka mas mababa pa [sa P480 million 'yung pending payments], kasi di ko alam 'yung exact figure… pero iilan lang 'yung mga ospital na di pa bayad sa kanilang mga kineclaim. Kailangan namin sigurong magconsolidate kung ano 'yung kine-claim nila at kung ano 'yung talagang pwedeng bayaran sa pondo ng DOH,” he added.

(It may be lower [than P480 million], since I don’t know the exact figure… but there are only a handful of hospitals with unpaid claims. We may perhaps need to consolidate their claims and what exactly we can pay under DOH funds.)

Herbosa reiterated that the DOH does not issue any guarantee letters as patients can just directly visit DOH public hospitals.

“Alam mo, wala naman kaming guarantee letter na binibigay. Di kami nagbibigay. Meron kaming programa, ang tawag diyan Medical Assistance For Indigent Patients And Financially Incapacitated Patients. Itong programa na ito, tumutulong sa mga pasyenteng kulang ang pambayad, lalo na kung kulang 'yung binayad ng PhilHealth at iba pang gastusin sa ospital, pero di kami nagbibigay ng guarantee letter po,” he shared.

(You know, we don’t issue any guarantee letters. We don’t give that out. We have programs, which we call Medical Assistance For Indigent Patients And Financially Incapacitated Patients. This program helps patients who lack money to pay bills, especially if PhilHealth does not cover much on top of other hospital cost, but we don’t issue any guarantee letters.)

“Eh gusto ko malaman kung saan nanggaling 'yung guarantee letter po. Pag kayo pumunta sa public hospital sa DOH, walang guarantee letter pong kailangan,” he continued.

(I want to know where the guarantee letter came from. If you go to a DOH public hospital, there is no need for a guarantee letter.)

The Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines, Inc. (PHAPI) said on Monday that 43 hospitals in Batangas have yet to receive some P480 million in payment from the government.

In a dzBB interview on Wednesday, PHAPI president Dr. Jose Rene De Grano said that the hospitals are accepting guarantee letters anew.

“Nung two months ago, siyempre inihingi namin ang mga receivables na yan, pero recently sinabi po namin na pag hindi na ibigay kaagad yan, siguro hindi muna kami tatanggap. Pero dahil nga sa tulong na din ni Secretary Herbosa at sa mga pamunuan ng regional office namin ito sa Region IV, naayos naman po at nangako sila na ifa-fast track na yung pagbabayad, so tuloy-tuloy parin po ang pagtanggap namin sa guarantee letter,” he shared.

(Two months ago, we were asking for these receivables but we recently told them that if we don’t receive them immediately, we might not accept guarantee letters anymore. But with the help of Secretary Herbosa and the leadership of the regional office here in Region IV, we were assured that the payments will be fast-tracked; thus, we allowed guarantee letters anew.)

De Grano noted that the payment delays may have been linked to the recent spike in patients and the lack of personnel to process requests.

“Sobrang dami [ng pasyente, at] dumaan yung election. Madaming gumamit talaga nitong mga guarantee letters na ‘yan. ‘Yung manpower medyo kumonti, so yung pagpoprocess po delayed. Nung maexplain naman po nila at nangako sila na within the reasonable time ay mabibigay nila yung aming mga receivables, nag-agree naman po kami na makipagugnayan sa aming mga miyembro,” he said.

(There were many [patients, and] we had the elections. Many used these guarantee letters. The manpower was reduced, so the process was delayed. When it was explained and they promised to give us our receivables within a reasonable time, we agreed to reach out to our members.)

Malacañang clarified on Tuesday that the DOH has sufficient funds to settle hospital claims and treatments for indigent patients.

“Hindi naman po nagkakaproblema ang gobyerno patungkol po sa pagbabayad ng mga bills po ng ating mga kababayan na covered po ng guarantee letters,” Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said.

(The government does not encounter problems in settling bills for Filipinos who are covered with guarantee letters.)

“Dito lamang po sa 39 hospitals na kinakailangan po ng DOH iyong ibang mga dokumento para po sila’y mabayaran. So doon po sa maniningil na mga hospitals, kumpletuhin lang po iyong inyong mga dokumento dahil po ang DOH ang sinasabi sa atin ay may sapat na pondo,” Castro explained.

(In these 39 hospitals, the DOH needs documents so they can get paid. So for those hospitals, just complete the documents needed by the DOH because the latter is saying that it has enough funds.)

The Palace also noted that patients may visit DOH hospitals for treatment without need for guarantee letters. —Jiselle Anne Casucian/AOL, GMA Integrated News