By Ma. Teresa Montemayor/Philippine News Agency
MANILA — An official of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) on Thursday belied news reports claiming the agency’s negligence on the “ghost” kidney patients’ issue.
In a press briefing at its head office in Pasig City, PhilHealth acting president, and chief executive officer Roy Ferrer said the corporation has exhausted all administrative remedies to address the fraudulent act.
“I heard it from the CNN, Attorney Harry Roque, and you’re saying it wrong that we’re just sitting down on these cases. We have to move on Mr. Roque, especially with the UHC (Universal Health Care) and we see this (issue) but there is importance in cleansing PhilHealth in and out,” Ferrer said.
On Thursday, a news report said Edwin Roberto and Liezl Santos, former employees of the WellMed Dialysis & Laboratory Center Corp. (WellMed) in Novaliches, Quezon City, claimed that PhilHealth continued paying for the dialysis of the center’s dead patients without checking the validity of the claims.
Being a sponsor of the UHC Act in the House of Representatives, former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said he was interested in this case because he wanted irregularities in PhilHealth weeded out with the implementation of the law.
“I don’t want the UHC to be used to fatten the pigs in government,” Roque said.
PhilHealth board member Dr. Roberto Salvador, whom Roberto and Santos approached regarding the issue in 2018, reiterated that the PhilHealth administration is taking all reports seriously.
“I have exposed these fraudulent acts since last year and I want to reiterate that this administration is serious in stopping fraud professionals. To Mr. Roque, we have met several times and I respect you, mali po ang sinasabi ninyo na wala kaming ginagawa, marami po kaming ginagawa dito sa PhilHealth para maayos ang mga naabutan naming problema (it is wrong for you to say that we’re not doing anything, we have a lot of things to do here in PhilHealth to solve all the problems from the past administrations),” he said.
PhilHealth senior vice president Rodolfo del Rosario said the corporation has filed 28 cases of administrative cases for non-admitted or treated patients; misrepresentation by furnishing false or incorrect information; breach of warranties of accreditation or performance commitment against WellMed.
Del Rosario added that PhilHealth has also filed several cases against three doctors for possible involvement between November and December 2018.
“As to the criminal complaint, we have instructed our NCR (National Capital Region) office to file the appropriate criminal complaints before the regional trial court. More or less, it will take 45 to 60 days to resolve the cases, as of February despite the fact that the facility is still accredited, their payments have been suspended,” he added.
Stressing that PhilHealth’s current administration wants to provide excellent service with the UHC coming, Salvador said the Filipino people can trust them with the resolution they have promised regarding the issue.
“Kami lamang pong administrasyon ang nakapagpatupad ng (We’re the only administration that was able to implement) rotation even though we have pressure from politicians, we will not give in to their demands they need to follow the direction of this board and management,” he added.
Ferrer disclosed around 38 employees have been suspended for various violations.
“Some of those are middle-level managers, some of their cases are way back 15 years ago and no one dared to touch them but my attention was called by the Congress during one of the hearings, that there is mafia inside PhilHealth and there are lots of unresolved cases from the past administrations,” he said, urging the public to report to them fraudulent acts even if PhilHealth employees and officials are involved.
“We encourage whistleblowers, and mind you, even with modern companies with the technology, it is still sometimes difficult to detect fraud, that’s why we’re encouraging the public, the people to report to us fraudulent activities happening in our claim processing. To the two whistle-blowers, do not be afraid, because we’re here to protect you,” he added.
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