PHA joins ECOP in support of House Bill 6532

There is a bill that is progressing in Congress that many of the hospital membership may not even be aware of. This is the House Bill 6532, for House Bills 1025, 2031, 2404, 2453, 2491, 2519, 3609, 4317 and 2961 also known as “An Act Strengthening the Security of Tenure of Workers in the Private Sector.”

It is said that “the proposed bill disregards management prerogative and due process as well as redefines unfair labor practices. It also restricts third-party contracting which compromises our ability to respond to changing business conditions and market demands. The proposed bill’s restrictive mesures will tie our hands leaving us with very little choice but to limit employment and avoid hiring.”

Managing hospitals today have become more complex. We operate in the most challenging environments where patients are more value-conscious and fraught with political and consumer pressure. The cheaper medicine law blindsided our operation and its financial effect is certainly painful to the hospitals. The last we need is yet another onerous law that infringes our right to implement better and more economical ways to manage our operation. To drive the cost up will eventually affect our ability to render affordable quality care to those in need of hospital services.

For many years, out-contracting certain segments of hospital services operations have helped tremendously in keeping our costs down. To curtail this activity and/or limit the employment of contractual or fixed-term employees in accordance with flunctuating market demands and to require these temporary workers to be treated almost like regular employees will certainly adversely affect hospital operations.

The Philippines has been a large beneficiary of outsourcing/out-contracting arrangements. This has propelled the growth of BPOs, call centers, medical transcriptions etc. and lately the rich market of medical tourism or simply rich countries outsourcing their medical services to those who can render it better and cheaper.

On the basis of the foregoing, the Philippine Hospital Association together with other organizations shows concerns on HOuse Bill 6532 and as members, supports the position paper of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines. –Alma Rita Jimenez, Manila Standard Today