THE Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) yesterday said healthcare facilities accredited for the consultation package that can cater to all its members nationwide are still insufficient.
In a televised public briefing, PhilHealth spokesperson Dr. Shirley Domingo said there are only 1,267 healthcare providers that have been accredited to provide the Konsultasyong Sulit at Tama Package (Konsulta) as of October 15.
“At the moment, the number of accredited providers is still insufficient,” said Domingo. “Our providers are still not enough to provide service to the whole population.”
In a phone interview, Domingo said their target is to have one accredited facility catering to around 20,000 people.
“At 20,000 population:1 facility ratio, we need at least 2,750 providers,” she said but added they don’t expect to enlist 2,750 facilities immediately.
“We are progressively realizing this since we know we cannot achieve 100% for the population at once,” said Domingo.
She said they continue to encourage healthcare facilities to get accredited for the Konsulta package.
Earlier, PhilHealth said application for Konsulta accreditation is open to non-hospital facilities, such as rural health units, ambulatory surgical clinics, and infirmaries, as well as outpatient departments of PhilHealth-accredited Level 1, 2, and 3 public and private hospitals.
Minimum requirements in terms of service capability include the conduct of preventive/screening service and health education, provision of required laboratory and radiologic services, and the dispensing of drugs and medicines.
Under the Konsulta package, beneficiaries may avail of targeted health risk screening and assessment, initial, and follow-up consultations, selected laboratory tests, drugs, and medicines as needed by the patients and as recommended by their primary care physician.
Laboratory and diagnostic examinations under the package include complete blood count with platelet count, urinalysis, fecalysis, sputum microscopy, fecal occult blood, Pap smear, lipid profile, fasting blood sugar, oral glucose tolerance test, electrocardiogram, creatinine, and HbA1c.
A total of 21 drugs and medicines shall be made available under the program such as anti-microbial, anti-asthma, antipyretics, anti-dyslipidemia, anti-diabetic, and anti-hypertensive medicines, including fluids and electrolytes, anti-thrombotic, and anti-histamine.
