Private hospitals to raise fees to recoup losses from drug price cut

MANILA, Philippines – Private hospitals will increase their administrative fees to recoup the losses incurred from the medicine price cuts.

Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines (PHAP) president Dr. Rustico Jimenez said this was the consensus of their members during a meeting yesterday in Clark Freeport, Pampanga where they discussed how they could sustain their operations despite the losses.

Jimenez said hospitals would charge a fee every time nurses administer medicine or injection to a patient.

“It was agreed upon that we increase our administrative fees to cover the rebates that drug companies have not yet given us. It’s been a month since many hospital pharmacies have adjusted the prices of some medicine but they have not yet been paid their rebates,” Jimenez told The STAR.

“ But this is only temporary. These services are free and once we recoup our losses, we’ll stop charging our patients. We don’t want to do this but many hospitals would go bankrupt if we don’t do anything,” he added.

Last Aug. 15, the government began implementing a 50-percent price reduction on some medicine under the maximum drug retail price (MDRP) system and a 10- to 50-percent price cut on other drugs through the government-mediated access price (GMAP) program. The programs were fully implemented last Sept. 15.

PHAP had asked the Department of Health (DOH) to give them at least six months to sell the medicine they acquired earlier from pharmaceutical firms before implementing the price adjustments but this was rejected.

PHAP had also asked the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (Philhealth) to speed up the payment of their reimbursements to cushion the impact of the MDRP and GMAP.

“It usually takes six months for us to be reimbursed for the services that we render to Philhealth members. This must be shortened,” Jimenez said. –Sheila Crisostomo (The Philippine Star)