BACOLOD CITY — The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) said it has nothing to do with the closure of the Bacolod Our Lady of Mercy Specialty Hospital (BOLMSH), which was denied 2018 accreditation for fraudulent acts.
The PhilHealth head office based in Pasig City issued the statement through the Bacolod City Public Information Office on Thursday night, a day after the hospital, which is under the management of the Negros Healthcare Management Systems, Inc. (NHMSI), shut down its operations, affecting a total of 401 hospital workers.
“The closure of BOLMSH is a decision made by its own management and not by PhilHealth nor of the government,” the state health insurer said in the statement.
PhilHealth, however, said the hospital “can continue to exist and operate to serve its local constituencies and for the welfare of its employees if it wants to, even without its accreditation with PhilHealth.”
“The denial of their application for continuous accreditation filed on Jan. 30, 2018 stemmed from the hospital’s conviction of committing fraudulent acts such as padding of claims, misrepresentation by furnishing false or incorrect information, and breach of warranties of accreditation/performance commitment,” PhilHealth added.
This is provided for in Sections 154, 158 and 164, respectively, in the Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (RIRR) of Republic Act (RA) No. 7875, as amended, it added. RA 7875 created PhilHealth.
On June 18, the BOLMSH management received a letter from PhilHealth 6 (Western Visayas), informing them that the hospital’s application for continuous accreditation has been denied due to “conviction of fraudulent acts” committed years before by the previous management, Tiong Bi Inc.
The hospital, through its management NHMSI, cannot evade liability on the ground that the violations were committed by previous management, Tiong Bi, Inc., the PhilHealth said.
Following this development, PhilHealth has stopped releasing the claims of the hospital from March to June, prompting the management to announce its closure by June 30.
On June 22, Mayor Evelio Leonardia called for a dialogue between PhilHealth-6 officials and BOLMSH- NHMSI management, through Dr. Nestor Amante, president and chief executive officer of BOLMSH. The closure was delayed to July 30.
On June 25, the hospital management filed a motion for reconsideration that was received by PhilHealth-6 legal counsel Dennis Guevara, in the presence of Leonardia.
The hospital’s lawyer Rafael Ocampo Jr. had asked PhilHealth to reconsider and set aside the denial of NHMSI’s re-accreditation and to issue a new order approving the hospital’s accreditation until December 31, 2018.
Ocampo also asked to release the PhilHealth claims of the hospital’s clients from March to June this year.
There has been no result yet of the evaluation of the appeal for re-accreditation of BOLMSH as of end of July. (/PNA)
