PhilHealth E. Visayas eyes P4.4-B claims in 2018

TACLOBAN CITY, Feb. 27  -- The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) is eyeing a PHP4.4 billion payment to Eastern Visayas members in 2018 with the full implementation of electronic claims system this year.

PhilHealth Eastern Visayas Regional Vice President Renato Limsiaco said about 500,000 patients in the region stand to benefit the government health insurance program in 2018.

“We expect higher benefit payment this year with electronic submission of claims and faster processing,” Limsiaco told Philippine News Agency (PNA) on the sidelines of awarding of best partners on Monday.

The projected claims in 2018 is 19 percent higher than the PHP3.68 billion worth of health insurance paid last year. The regional office maintains a 32 percent payment growth rate since 2010.

PhilHealth is eyeing to automate transaction of all hospitals in Eastern Visayas by mid-2018 to improve operational efficiency in the processing and payment of claims.

Under the automated system, encoded claims information in the hospital systems can now be submitted online via the PhilHealth web service, which will eventually provide hospitals and other institutional health care providers to view status of their claims online.

Limsiaco said automation would reduce turnaround time to 15 days from 42 to 50 days under the manual system.

In 2017, PhilHealth regional office recorded a 48 days turnaround time of claims processing, which ranked 6th nationwide. Health insurance has benefitted 471,169 patients in the region.

Eastern Visayas region, divided into six provinces, has 4.25 million PhilHealth members, representing 4.57 million of the region’s projected population as of last year. (SQM/PNA)