90 days of dialysis per year now covered by PhilHealth

MANILA, Philippines – The number of hemodialysis covered by the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) has been doubled to 90 per year, the government corporation announced on Friday, June 26.

In a statement, PhilHealth said its board of directors approved the expansion to help ease the financial burden of members and their dependents, given the growing incidence of kidney diseases in the country.

The board was also responding to the growing clamor from sectors to expand increase the hemodialysis session days covered by PhilHealth.

According to the World Health Organization, kidney diseases ranked 8th among the top 10 causes of death in the Philippines. That year, 15,900 Filipinos died due to kidney diseases alone. 

About 10,000 new patients start dialysis every year. In fact, the National Kidney and Transplant Institute – the referral center of kidney patients from regional hospitals – serves an average of 34,000 dialysis sessions yearly.

PhilHealth president and CEO Alexander Padilla said the current coverage of P4,000 per session turned out to be more than enough since the normal cost is only P2,500.

“Based on a series of consultative meetings and dialogues with our stakeholders…[we are] thus, we are adjusting the case rate amount to P2,500 per session but extending the number of sessions per year,” he said. 

So from the 45 sessions currently allowed per year, the package now covers 90 sessions, Padilla explained. “We want to assure our members that this adjustment will not in any way affect the quality of care being provided by our accredited facilities.” 

The adjusted PhilHealth coverage of P 2,500 per session includes payment for facilities and professional fees of attending physicians.

Based on PhilHealth records, there were 691,489 claims filed hemodialysis, the most among procedures covered by the state-run health insurance service. It paid total benefits of P4.67 billion.

PhilHealth members and their dependents can avail themselves of this benefit at accredited free standing dialysis centers and hospitals nationwide. – Rappler.com