The validation conducted recently by a team from the Central PhilHealth CARES Monitoring Office yielded an amazing result for the province as it maintains its 100% No Balance Billing (NBB) compliant status for the 2nd quarter.
Under the No Balance Billing scheme, indigent patients who seek medical services in government hospitals will not be billed even a single centavo. Indigent patients are those registered in the PhilHealth portal based on the Listahanan or National Household Targeting System (NHTS) for poverty reduction.
At present, Bataan operates four (4) district hospitals: JC Payumo Memorial Hospital in Dinalupihan; Orani District Hospital (ODH) in Orani; Bagac Medicare Hospital in Bagac and Mariveles District Hospital in Mariveles. To date, the first three are fully operational with MDH awaiting DOH permits prior to full operation; yet they are already providing medical services and attending to emergency cases.
In a phone interview with ODH Chief, Dr. Hector Santos, he narrated that the validators were in awe when one of them asked the patients if there is anyone among them who paid for medicines or laboratory services out of their pocket and no one among the patients answered in the affirmative.
When asked how does Bataan maintain its 100% NBB status, which other provinces cannot achieve so far, Doc Hec shared that Bataan maintains a contingency fund sourced from the share of the doctors and hospital staff from PhilHealth. They utilize this fund when they run out of medical supplies, which the provincial government reimburses to them later on.
Meanwhile, the Bataan General Hospital and Medical Center is also 100% NBB compliant as validated also by the same team.
This is a clear indicator of the government’s resolve to achieve its goal of raising the life span of Bataeños vis-à-vis providing them a better quality of life.
Congratulations to the health sector of Bataan, for an amazing feat!
