PhilHealth Region 8 offices earn CSC Seal of Excellence Award

TACLOBAN CITY, May 30 -- The Civil Service Commission (CSC) has conferred the Seal of Excellence Award to four field offices of Philippine Health Insurance Corporation in Eastern Visayas.

 Those recognized during the recent ceremony at the Concourse Convention Center in Legazpi City, Albay were Calbayog Business Center in Samar, Catbalogan Local Health Insurance Office in Samar, Borongan Local Health Insurance Office in Eastern Samar, and Maasin Local Health Insurance Office in Southern Leyte.

The Seal of Excellence Award is given to government offices providing exceptional customer service to walk-in clients. The selection process was rigorous. The Civil Service Commission initially surveyed more than 300 government offices in Eastern Visayas to include local government units. 

Of the more than 300 offices initially surveyed, only 12 were rated “excellent” and seven of which were PhilHealth offices. This distinction earned former PhilHealth Regional Vice President Walter A. Bacareza the “ARTA Czar” Award back in 2015. 

The 12 offices underwent a re-validation process in 2016 by the CSC validators from other regions. On its final validation, only four offices in Eastern Visayas emerged as deserving of the coveted Seal of Excellence Award. 

Each of the four PhilHealth offices received a wall-mountable glass plaque and a cash prize depending on the number of stars indicated in their award. 

PhilHealth Calbayog with the highest rating of five stars received PHP100,000. PhilHealth Borongan and Maasin with four stars received PHP25,000 each and the 3 stars of PhilHealth Catbalogan has no cash equivalent. 

The government agencies were rated as to the quality, efficiency and adequacy of their frontline services. This included their compliance to the Anti-Red Tape provisions to include among others, the no noon break policy, anti-fixing campaign, public assistance and complaints desk, IDs for frontline officers and transparency in the costs of transactions. 

Another core area is the overall client satisfaction which covers the knowledge, competence, timeliness and overall conduct of frontline officers as well as the physical set-up and basic facilities of the office. 

PhilHealth Eastern Visayas Regional Vice-President Renato L. Limsiaco, Jr said that “provision of excellent customer service is a continuous process and PhilHealth employees must practice it every single day.” 

Limsiaco even coined the customer service slogan of “customers’ delight is our business.” Also part of the provision of excellent customer service is the strengthened implementation of the feedback mechanism to effectively address queries and complaints from clients.(PhilHealth-PR/PNA)