Some  P1.6 billion,  from its P30 billion worth of financial assistance,  will be released by the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) to various health care institutions who applied for funds under the Interim Reimbursement Mechanism in response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

In a statement, Philhealth said the IRM is the agency’s financial aid to its partner health institutions affected by natural and man-made calamities that have devastating effects on their ability to continuously provide health care to the people.

The P30 billion allotted by PhilHealth for hospitals and other health care institutions is the state agency’s biggest response to President Rodrigo Duterte’s call to curb the spread of this virus.

The recipient institutions include levels 1 to 3 hospitals, birthing homes, infirmaries and dialysis centers whose allocation is equivalent to three months’ worth of claims.

To mobilize as many health care providers in the fight against the pandemic, even hospitals that are currently under sanctions due to certain violations may also apply.

To avail of the IRM, affected hospitals and facilities may apply and submit a signed IRM contract or Memorandum of Agreement to their respective PhilHealth Regional Offices.

The funds shall be released to the hospitals within five working days upon receipt of approved IRM applications from the Central Office.

However, releases will be prioritized based on the areas’ COVID incidence.

Hospitals wishing to use this facility are advised to contact the PhilHealth personnel assigned to their area and accomplish a memorandum of agreement reflecting the amount applied for.

This procedure should be completed in not more than five working days.

As of March 25, 2020 PhilHealth has paid out a total of P 1.617 billion under the IRM program.

For the month of March 2020 it has paid out P 6.856 billion as part of its regular benefits payment and P 2.96 billion under its accelerated Return To Hospital (RTH) program.

Health care workers shall include those volunteers who have been asked to augment or reinforce the health workforce and those non-medical personnel necessary for the operation of a health facility like janitors, security guards and maintenance personnel./Stacy Ang