A total of P16.7 million in medical assistance were availed of by 3,032 patients at the Catanduanes Doctors Hospital, Inc. (CDHI) last year, with the number of beneficiaries expected to rise this 2024 due to the P55 million allocated to the private hospital under a government program.
Records show that for 2023, the hospital in Valencia, Virac still has a balance of P8.1 million out of the total P21.45 million allocated to it under the Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients Program (MAIFIPP).
For the current year, CDHI has been allotted a total of P55.94 million in MAIFIPP funding, broken down as follows: AKO BICOL Partylist c/o Rep. Elizaldy Co, P50 million; Talino at Galing Partylist (TGP) c/o Rep. Jose Teves Jr., P4 million; Lone District of Catanduanes c/o Cong. Eulogio Rodriguez, P1.5 million; Pandan Vice Mayor Eric Rodriguez, P200,000; ACT Teachers Partylist, P100,000; Bato Vice Mayor Roy Regalado, P100,000; One Rider Partylist, P30,000; and Sen. Joel Villanueva, P10,000.
From January to March this year, 1,102 indigent and financially incapacitated patients have already been granted a total of P14.4 million in approved medical assistance under the program, Chief of Hospital Dr, Ivan Gil Balmadrid told the Tribune recently.
The figures of beneficiaries for the past year and a half dwarfs those who got a similar aid under the old MAIP, when CDHI recorded 119 patients with nearly a million pesos in assistance in 2021 and 542 patients with P4.5 million in okayed medical assistance in 2022.
Of the P8 million in MAIP funds provided for CDHI patients in 2022, P6.5 million were allocated by TGP Partylist while only P1.5 million was coursed by Cong. Rodriguez.
The rise in indigent and financially incapacitated patients at the private hospital is due to the increasing patronage of CDHI’s services since last year, with majority of admitted patients belonging to the indigent sector.
Dr. Balmadrid said that under MAIFIPP, all expenses incurred by the beneficiary patient, from room, medicines and laboratory tests are covered, with the professional fee of doctors limited to 50% of the total billing. The assistance is given after the costs covered by PhilHealth is deducted.
He cited the case of an unidentified indigent patient who was admitted for four weeks at the Intensive Care Unit who did not pay a single cent for his confinement due to MAIFIPP, with some of his doctors declining to charge fees.
“Libre gabos,” Balmadrid said, “We always try to find ways to make sure that the indigent patient will not be burdened.”
The funds are downloaded to the Department of Health regional office and the medical assistance is reimbursed to the hospital within two to three months.
To speed up the approval process, the Ako Bicol Partylist has deployed personnel at CDHI to handle the required documentation, which has to be forwarded electronically to the partylist’s office in Albay.
CDHI has also assigned two Registered Social Workers to take care of hospital’s end of the medical assistance procedure.
Under the management of the new board headed by Chairman Iluminada Teves and President/CEO Dr. Lubelia Sanchez, the 60-bed hospital is now in better financial condition with its 16 private rooms always full and majority of its 44-bed wards occupied at any time.
Surgical operations have risen from the previous once a week to almost every day.
“There is that mistaken notion that CDHI rates are expensive but our review shows that it is in fact cheaper,” Dr. Balmadrid said.
He likewise disclosed that CDHI will soon establish by September 2024 its own blood bank, the first in Catanduanes.
Equipment for the blood bank has already been procured while its application for the required permit is now being processed.
While the number of dialysis machines at its Hemo Dialysis Unit has been downgraded to five from the previous eight, the move was more of a financial strategy as the management chose to buy the five units previously leased from a Metro Manila company.
“We are now in the process of procuring two additional units,” Balmadrid added, pointing out that CDHI’s license is for eight machines.
The other services it offers include mammogram, 24hour pharmacy, 24-hour 16-slice CT scan, 24-hour emergency room, 2D Echo and Stress Test, fully equipped ICU, Telemedicine and Teleradiology, advanced endoscopy unit, neuropsychological exam, advanced X-ray unit and imaging, 4D ultrasound, dental clinic, nutrition counselling, and the St. Martin de Porres charity ward.
It also offers several health packages: Socialized Wellness Package, Executive Wellness Package, OB-Gyne Package and Surgical Package.