By Cindy Ferrer/PNA
ILOILO CITY — The expanded primary care benefits (ePCB) of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. will allow more members to avail of preventive services, PhilHealth officials said here Thursday.
Dr. Israel Francis Pargas, acting senior vice president for PhilHealth’s Health Finance Policy Sector, said the ePCB will cover more illnesses, disabilities, and maintenance medicines of members.
It includes the coverage for those who have diabetes and hypertension, he told stakeholders from three Visayas regions who gathered in this city for the launch of the ePCB.
The PCB started as a primary care benefit offering free consultation, diagnostics and medicines made available in rural health units (RHUs) and primary care providers made available only to indigents, sponsored citizens, overseas Filipino workers and teachers of the Department of Education (DepEd), said Janimhe Cam, PhilHealth 6 (Western Visayas) head of the Regional Public Affairs Unit.
With the expansion, it now covers members in the formal economy and lifetime members. It will now be made available to Levels 1, 2 and 3 private and government hospitals; ambulatory surgical services and infirmaries; and private medical and outpatient clinics.
Similar to the PCB, the expanded version will also cover consultation, essential services, and complete dose of medicines.
Under the sufficient regularity of payment requirement, a member should have paid at least nine months’ worth of premiums in the 12 months preceding the confinements, including the confinement month of the patient to avail of the benefits.
Meanwhile, two health care providers in Western Visayas, the Qulimed Hospital in Mandurriao district in Iloilo City and Sebaste Community Hospital in Sebaste town in Antique, are now giving the essential services.
In a follow-up interview, Kathleen Sadio, ancillary sales associate manager of Qualimed Hospital, said that since they are one of the pioneering hospitals to be accredited to provide ePCB, their clients will definitely benefit from it.
As a 100-bed capacity general hospital, Sadio said that the ePCB is aligned with their vision and tagline of “Abot Kaya.”
“We assure that we will provide the essential services under the program,” she said.
Meanwhile, Pargas urged all other health care providers in the region to seek accreditation for ePCB.
He said they are currently processing some 80 applications nationwide. However, he cannot determine how many of them are from Western Visayas.
“We are just waiting for their performance commitment,” he said, adding that they are confident that more hospitals will be accredit before the end of the year.
“In 2019, we are targeting that all hospitals in the whole country are already accredited because it is a benefit that should be enjoyed by all members,” he added.
