In order to decongest Northern Mindanao Medical Center (NMMC), Cagayan de Oro City Hall is looking for ways to expand PhilHealth´s No Balance Billing (NBB) program to more private hospitals in the city, Mayor Oscar Moreno said Thursday noon (Aug. 13).

“NMMC and JR Borja General Hospital (JRBGH) are government hospitals so NBB is expected to be implemented there since they are for public service. But I think that private hospitals should also be service-oriented. Here in Cagayan de Oro, we at City Hall already partnered with two private hospitals (for this purpose),” Mayor Moreno said during Thursday noon´s press briefing.

The NBB is covered under Republic Act 10606 or the National Health Insurance Act of 2013 and since 2011, PhilHealth adopted a case based payment scheme that offers a predictable and equitable payment based on an indigent patient´s condition. The NHIA also specifies that no other fee or expense shall be charged to the indigent patient subject to the guidelines issued by PhilHealth, which offers packaged rates for most illnesses afflicting indigent patients.

“We know that the city´s private hospitals whether secondary or tertiary have the personnel, the facilities and resources to serve the city´s indigent patients. Through the Department of Health (DOH-10) City Hall partnered with Capitol University Medical Center (CUMC) and Xavier University-Maria Reyna Hospital (XUMRH) to care for the city´s indigent patients under the NBB policy,” Mayor Moreno said.

Amid the controversies hounding it, Mayor Moreno said PhilHealth will always play a critical role in funding access for quality medical services to the country´s poor in keeping with Republic Act 11223 or the Universal Health Care Act that was signed by President Rodrigo Duterte last year.

Under the law, Mayor Moreno said private hospitals are mandated to allocate 10 percent of their wards for indigent patients but City Hall´s arrangement with CUMC and XUMRH allowed for these hospitals to increase their accommodation to 20 percent.

“Just like in public hospitals, these patients have zero balance billing. Currently, XUMRH serviced 11 indigent patients while CUMC accommodated five indigent patients. We at City Hall want to expand our partnership with more private hospitals to serve more indigent patients in the city,” Mayor Moreno said.