Baguio to get more PhilHealth fund
Mayor Benjamin Magalong said the city stands to receive another capitation fund or advance payment from the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) after posting an exceptional performance in implementing the Konsultasyong Sulit at Tama (Konsulta) program.
Magalong said he was informed of the good news by PhilHealth Insurance SystemBaguio Chief Social Insurance Officer Janet Palaez and her team in a coordination meeting held on Tuesday, April 23.
Palaez said the city will receive P35 million or more than double the P16 million it received last December 2023 under PhilHealth’s sandbox innovation program where the city was chosen as one of the first seven primary care provider networks (PCPNs) in the country that were granted advanced payments or frontloading of funds even before services have been rendered.
She said the city posted a 111 percent accomplishment exceeding its baseline of 60 percent of the target in the performance of its Konsulta tasks.
The city was able to dispense a total of P17,710,188 in terms of registration of members to the Konsulta program and provision of primary care as against the first capitation fund frontloaded to the city amounting to P15,976,000.
Palaez said PhilHealth will front load more funds for the city’s primary health care services in recognition of the city’s performance.
The mayor thanked PhilHealth for providing more capitation funds and for choosing the city as pioneer PCPN, citing the program’s benefit for the city’s populace in view of the rising costs of medicines, laboratory and medical procedures in private hospitals.
He cited the efforts of the district health centers and the City Health Services Office under acting city health officer Celia Flor Brillantes in achieving the feat and thanked them for their diligence in keeping the city’s public health care system responsive to the needs of the constituents.
The Konsulta program is being implemented in 13 of the city’s 16 district health centers which had been issued licenses to operate as primary health care facilities by the Department of Health and as such have been accredited as Konsulta package provider by the PhilHealth, enabling them to render individual-based health services including initial and follow-up primary care consultations, health screening and assessment and access to selected diagnostic services and medicines.