PhilHealth has instituted a no copayment policy for its benefit packages for the diagnosis and management of COVID-19. The costing of these benefit packages is a result of an iterative process involving data collection, stakeholder consultations, and data analysis. As such, we can say that the “maximum” health care cost for a specific service (e.g. … Continue reading PhilHealth should provide incentives to eliminate out-of-pocket expenses
Health Financing
Pandemic Financing: How the World is Funding the COVID-19 Response (Part 3)
What mechanisms are available to fund the pandemic response? The Ebola crisis in West Africa in 2014 highlighted the difficulty in rapidly organizing funding for an outbreak, especially among economically vulnerable countries. To address this and to prevent future financial catastrophes, several financing mechanisms have been presented to countries. These mechanisms aim to fund the … Continue reading Pandemic Financing: How the World is Funding the COVID-19 Response (Part 3)
Pandemic Financing: How the World is Funding the COVID-19 Response (Part 2)
What are the considerations in the provider payment mechanism? How we raise money to pay for health care is an important issue. But equally important are the daunting tasks of organizing health service delivery, and compensating individuals and organizations that provide these services. To meet the increasing demand for health care services, health care workers … Continue reading Pandemic Financing: How the World is Funding the COVID-19 Response (Part 2)
Pen Point 49
Various provider payment mechanisms will continue to exist in the country’s health care system. Emphasis is placed, however, on the current movement towards using performance-driven, prospective payments (e.g. Global Budget Payment) based on diagnosis-related groups (DRG). The shift to DRG-based GBP will not be easy. Mechanisms should be in place to avoid underprovision and ensure … Continue reading Pen Point 49
Pandemic Financing: How the World is Funding the COVID-19 Response (Part 1)
Introduction Many countries are scrambling to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. The primary focus has been on strengthening health systems to improve surge capacity1,2. At the same time, countries are faced with the difficulty of balancing the demands of responding to the pandemic with the need to maintain the delivery of essential health services2. This … Continue reading Pandemic Financing: How the World is Funding the COVID-19 Response (Part 1)
Health Economics Series: Provider Payment in the UHC era
The country is considering several options for provider payment reform that will help achieve universal health care. Population-based interventions will be primarily offered by the government. As such, provider payment mechanism for these interventions will include salary and capitation. Philhealth considers primary health care capitation to promote integrated care through the service delivery network; thus, … Continue reading Health Economics Series: Provider Payment in the UHC era
Pens & Needles 