PHILIPPINE HEALTHCARE SYSTEM

• The Philippine healthcare system continues to grow as many private equities pursue investments, acquire smaller hospitals, and upgrade hospital infrastructure to be on par with other countries
• Low public financing due to government constraints is hindering resource mobilization
• Healthcare in rural areas is of significantly lower quality than at hospitals in large cities
• Hospital beds and any expansion in infrastructure are occurring in the more economically developed island of Luzon, particularly in NCR
• The Philippine healthcare market has opportunities for health IT and innovative medical devices, proactively searching for imaging and diagnostic equipment to diagnose patients accurately
• The Philippines is seen as an emerging medical tourism country, with competitive medical service prices and English-speaking medical professionals
• The Philippines health sector is at a critical stage in its transformation
• The Philippines has undergone significant health sector reforms, but many challenges remain, prompting a review to identify future policy directions
• The Philippines has shown progress in population health, with rising life expectancy and childhood mortality rates declining
• Maternal and reproductive health progress falls short of expectations, with persistent disparities across regions and income levels
• Burden of disease is rapidly changing in the Philippines and non-communicable diseases are emerging as a health sector challenge
• Financial protection from the costs of ill-health is getting worse, out of pocket payments are increasing
• There are large income-related disparities in the utilization of health services
• Health spending levels are below the average for comparable countries. Despite good economic growth, the overall share of public spending on health has grown only slightly at the national level
• Health insurance coverage in the country is still low
• Reduce Maternal and Child Mortality

  • Immunization of children
  • Successful deliveries
  • Family Planning
• Control of Infectious (Age Old) Diseases

  • Control of Malaria
  • Control of Filariasis
  • Control of Rabies
  • Treatment of Tuberculosis
  • Treatment of HIV/AIDS
• Fabella Memorial Hospital


  The largest maternity hospital in the Philippines, named after Dr. Jose Fabella
• RA 10354: Responsible Parenthood Reproductive Health Act


  An act providing for a national policy on responsible parenthood and reproductive health
• Expand PhilHealth Coverage


  • Percent of population enrolled in National Health Insurance Program
  • All Filipinos are automatically included under the National Health Insurance Program (NHIP)
• Improve PhilHealth Benefit Package

  • No Balance Billing (NBB) Policy
  • Z-Benefit Package
• Access to Quality Health Care System

  • Health Facilities Enhancement Program
  • Human Resources for Health Deployment Program
• Health Governance


  • DOH ISO Certification
  • Sincerity Rating
  • Health Information Systems Improvement
  • Partnership with private sector
• Difficulty synchronizing public health in a devolved and fragmented health system
• Bringing care in geographically isolated conflict and disadvantaged areas
• Implementation of rapid health insurance coverage to about 40 million Filipinos through national subsidy
• Reform governance of public hospitals
• Improve timeliness and accuracy of national data gathering
• Resistance to Public Private Partnerships
• Professional health workers


  • Tendency to live away from the mainstream
• PhilHealth's indirect contributors


  Citizens who are incapable of paying for health insurance premiums
• Health insurance coverage is no guarantee of financial protection and access to quality health services
• This is due to the limited nature of PhilHealth benefits and the difficulties in accessing these benefits
• Public hospitals (by DOH and LGUs)

  • Suffer from many problems, including inadequate financing, poor allocation of resources, lack of quality benchmarks and standards, and limited accountability
• "Hospital bypass" is also common, wherein patients present directly to hospital without passing a primary care level gatekeeper, leading to overload at hospitals
• There is a need for more supported policies which focus on reforms that aim to improve hospital efficiency
• Civil registration


  The primary means for Filipinos to prove who they are and their eligibility for certain public health services
• Civil registration also provides the government with basic demographic and health data, necessary to make informed policies
• Civil registration coverage faces barriers like geography and cost barriers (ex. cost of sworn affidavits for delayed registration or for a child born out of wedlock)
• The partnership between public and private health institutions have the potential to provide improvements in health services