The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) owes the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital in Bacolod City P326,667, 895 in COVID-19 claims and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests, CLMMRH chief financial officer Shareen Junsay Caelian said Sunday, June 20.
The P326 million does not include the about P67 million non-COVID related claims of CLMMRH, she said.
The total unpaid COVID-19 claims of the hospital for the treatment of 640 patients is P277.6 million from February 2020 to the present, Caelian said.
PhilHealth has only paid P4.2 million plus or 1.5 percent of CLMMRH ‘s total COVID-19 claims, she said.
“While hospitals and doctors are being accused of benefiting from this pandemic, the truth is CLMMRH has received only 1.5 percent of its claims since February 2020 to June 20, 2021,” a CLMMRH statement said.
Despite of this, CLMMRH strives to comply with the No Balance Billing Policy in order to serve the people of Negros, it added.
CLMMRH also has a separate claim of P48.9 million for RT-PCR tests conducted from June 2020 to the present, Caelian added.
Meanwhile, the COVID-19 positivity rate at the CLMMRH molecular laboratory was at 33.52 percent from June 14 to 18, Dr. Julius Drilon, CLMMRH chief, said.
This means one out of three tested for COVID-19 was positive for the virus, he said.
The Bacolod samples from June 14-18 showed a similar and consistent trend on the positivity rate since the beginning of June. There are no signs of lowering down of cases, he said.
“Let us combine forces in mitigating the spread of the virus by encouraging our family and friends to stay at home and consistently wear face masks and face shields,” Drilon said.
“The cost of preventing the COVID-19 disease is cheaper than healing and recovering from COVID-19,” he added.*