MANILA, Philippines — Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) said on Wednesday that it tried to verify with the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) if a number of WellMed Dialysis Center’s patients had died, but the agency turned down its request. Shirley Domingo, PhilHealth spokesperson, said the state health insurance firm asked the PSA late last year for data on patients supposedly used by the Quezon City-based dialysis center to make fake claims. ADVERTISEMENTBut the PSA, citing data privacy concerns, thumbed it down in January, according to Domingo. Roberto noted that WellMed was able to defraud PhilHealth because the insurance firm was “unable to know if a patient has died.”That is why PhilHealth is drafting a memorandum of agreement with the PSA so the agency’s statistics can be shared with the health insurance firm, Domingo said. “So, whether or not a complaint is filed with us or a provider falsely claims that [a patient] is still alive, we will know with the data shared by the PSA,” she said.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer June 12, 2019 23:26 UTC