The Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) approved on Thursday, April 22, 2021, the application of the Debit-Credit Payment Method (DCPM) of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) in all high risk and critical risk areas.
These other high risk and critical risk areas will also be prioritized in the COVID-19 vaccine allocation, human health resource deployment, and other relevant COVID-19 response, as applicable.
PhilHealth, in its Circular 2021-0004, provides for the use of the DCPM to facilitate the settlement of accounts payable to healthcare facilities during the State of Public Health Emergency brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.
PhilHealth initially applied DCPM only to areas identified by the IATF/National Task Force Against COVID-19 (NTF), particularly in the National Capital Region, Batangas, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Pampanga, and Rizal.
The IATF likewise directed the NTF – Task Group Treat, through the One COVID Referral System, to utilize the Feasibility Analysis of Syndromic Surveillance Using Spatio-Temporal Epidemiological Modeler for Early Detection of Diseases (FASSSTER) projections on target beds and human resources for health. These projections shall identify health capacity needs required to lower health care and intensive care unit (ICU) utilization rates.
The NTF shall also review and implement the recommended Prevent-Detect-Isolate-Treat- Reintegrate strategies to reduce the health utilization rates and augment the needs of human resources for health.
In addition, the NTF, through its TG Treat with the One COVID Referral System, along with the Department of Health – Health Facility Development Bureau and concerned agencies, shall identify target additional beds on a weekly basis that will substantially reduce health care and ICU utilization rates, determine and list specific health facilities and infrastructure to contribute these additional beds, and operationalize how these beds become functional with adequate human resources for health and equipment.
The NTF shall further engage the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority to develop training and instructional materials of available COVID-19 response frameworks to enhance the enforcement of COVID-19 strategies at the barangay level.
The said materials shall be cascaded to the barangay, purok, sitio, and zone levels through the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the regional counterparts of the NTF for immediate and intensified implementation through barangay empowerment.
The IATF, in the same meeting, also approved the request of the Philippine National Police, through its Air Unit, to conduct an Initial Type Rating Training for Pilots, provided that training will be done in a non-quarantine hotel. (PR)
