Philhealth Sets Ebola Reimbursement Package
MANILA – People covered by the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (Philhealth) may now get reimbursements if they are confirmed to have Ebola virus disease (EVD), according to health officials seeking to prevent the deadly infection from spreading in the country.
Philhealth President and Chief Executive Officer Atty. Alexander Padilla said their Philhealth Circular 005-2015 covers a reimbursement package – for Philhealth members and dependents – to prevent EVD’s “disruptive and catastrophic consequences to public health and growing economy.”
Members and their dependents may avail themselves of the package in any health institution that has the capability and facilities to manage Ebola, as required by the Department of Health’s (DOH) strategic plan for the disease.
The confirmed cases just need to have their confirmatory tests performed by the DOH-run Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, said Padilla.
It covers reimbursements of the laboratory procedures, drugs, medicines and all aspects of care needed to screen or confirm the infection, confinement in a specialized facility within the hospital designed to contain the infection, medical management and other auxiliary procedures for proper care of the patients.
For the seven-day confinement of a confirmed case, Philhealth allots a total care rate of P110,000, inclusive of P85,400 for hospital fee, P19,600 for professional fee and P5,000 for ambulance conduction.
Patients who need to be confirmed for more than seven days shall be reimbursed the amount of P16,000 daily up to to P112,000, in addition to the basic package.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Ebola has killed 10,194 people as of March 15.
There were 24,701 cases, mostly in West Africa: Sierra Leone accounted for 11,751 cases, while Liberia had 9526 cases, and Guinea had 33,89 cases.
The other countries with reported cases include Nigeria with 20; Mali with eight; United States with four and Senegal, Spain and United Kingdom with one case each.