Bacolod hospital to close down
BACOLOD CITY: A private hospital in Bacolod City will cease operations effective June 30 after the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) denied its application for continuous accreditation as a Level 2 health provider.
A letter of Lourdes Diocson, regional director of PhilHealth in Region 6 (Western Visayas), addressed to Dr. Reynold Wong, medical director of Bacolod Our Lady of Mercy Specialty Hospital (BOLMSH), said the hospital’s application was denied because of “conviction and due to fraudulent acts” as recommended under the National Health Insurance Act of 2013.
The BOLMSH was found guilty of fabricated claims for cataract surgeries conducted on patients recruited through medical missions in 2006.
But, Dr. Nestor Amante, chief executive officer of BOLMSH, said the alleged fabricated claims were committed during the previous management under Dr. Evangeline Johnson.
“We are not party to the PhilHealth case against the hospital when it was managed by Johnson, who should be made to answer for it,” he pointed out.
Amante said that since Monday, BOLMSH has been refusing patients for admission using their PhilHealth card because “it would be unfair to them if they could not claim their hospitalization benefit and their doctors could not be paid by PhilHealth.”
He added that they are forced to stop operations since PhilHealth suspended the claims payment to BOLMSH from June 18 onward and they could no longer operate for two to three more weeks while awaiting a decision on their appeal.
But with the non-payment of the claims since March on a violation, which is not the fault of the management at present, the hospital already lost P25 million in operations cost and salaries, Amante said.
The Negros Healthcare Systems Inc. currently operates the BOLMSH, which it leased from Tiong Bi Inc. for five years – 2014 to December 2018.
A total of 401 employees stand to lose their jobs as the hospital closes down, except security guards, janitors and orderlies whose services were outsourced, Amante said.
At this writing, at least 20 patients remained in the hospital after 25 of them were discharged on Tuesday upon the advice of their doctors to transfer to other hospitals where they can claim their PhilHealth benefits.
Also to be affected are 213 dialysis patients.
The BOLMSH is classified as a Level 2 hospital with a 200-bed capacity.
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