Manila Bulletin
Congress to dig deeper into P14-B advanced payment made by PhilHealth to hospitals
The House committee on public accounts will investigate PhilHealth's P14 billion advance payments for coronavirus treatment to detect any potential fraud or overpayment.
The investigation, led by Representative Mike Defensor, will scrutinize the Interim Reimbursement Mechanism (IRM) payments.
Concerns have been raised as the largest portions of the IRM fund were reportedly allocated to dialysis centers and hospitals in areas with low COVID-19 case counts.
According to Commission on Audit records, only P1 billion out of the P14 billion IRM fund released during the pandemic has been liquidated by PhilHealth.
PhilHealth has suspended the IRM pending a review.
The committee has requested supporting documents from PhilHealth, which should detail the amounts advanced, recipient hospitals, liquidation status, patient case details, and treatments provided.
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See how different news organizations are covering this story. Below are the original articles from various Philippine news sources that contributed to this summary.
PhilHealth lost at least P2 billion due to fraud in its Interim Reimbursement Mechanism (IRM) program, which distributed over P14 billion to hospitals for COVID-19 operations.
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The Commission on Audit (COA) is conducting five separate audits involving the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).
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House committees investigating PhilHealth have summoned officials from 45 hospitals implicated in fraud cases with the state health insurer.
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Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri stated that Health Secretary Francisco Duque III needs to provide explanations regarding the recurring controversies surrounding PhilHealth, given his position as chairman of its Board of Directors.
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Several senators welcomed the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation's (PhilHealth) suspension of its interim reimbursement mechanism (IRM) as a positive step towards transparency and allowing scrutiny of past fund releases.
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