PhilCare earnings jump 21% in 2019

Philhealthcare Inc. (PhilCare), one of the Philippines’ most preferred health maintenance organizations, reported a 20.9 percent growth in its net income to P130.6 million last year.

Based on the company’s annual financial statement, revenues increased by 15.8 percent P2.68 billion. Benefits, claims, and expenses rose 15.3 percent to P2.5 billion.

“We are really happy that our efforts in 2019 bore fruit, from the aggressive sales of our innovative products like our prepaid healthcards to the new partnerships we formed and the new sales channels that we have opened. All these have contributed significantly to the increase of our bottom line,” said PhilCare president and chief executive officer Jaeger Tanco.

“I’m particularly proud that PhilCare has pioneered prepaid healthcards in the market. This was the result of our 1st Wellness Index done back in 2014. We learned back then a lot of Filipinos did not have access to healthcare coverage because they didn’t have corporate health benefits. We, then, decided to develop sachet-type products that are more accessible and affordable, and it truly made a difference,” he added.

Apart from prepaid cards, PhilCare is taking on new innovations by banking on technology. Among these is the DigiMed service, a form of medical teleconsult, which should make a more pronounced impact as the nation embraces the new normal.

The DigiMed service on the HeyPhil app has so far received around 1,500 digital consultations a month. It also recently launched DigiMed PLUS, a web-based telemedicine application that allows members access to numerous specialists through video call.