MANILA – The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) will increase its coverage for outpatient hemodialysis from 90 sessions to 156 sessions this year.
In a media forum on Wednesday, PhilHealth President and Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel Ledesma Jr. said this is part of their commitment to implement enhancements in the benefit packages for 2023.
“This increase in the number of sessions covered is based on standards for adequate dialysis which requires three four-hour sessions every week for chronic kidney disease Stage 5 patients,” Ledesma said.
PhilHealth Senior Vice President Israel Francis Pargas disclosed that they are targeting to issue the new policy officially before August as the current 90 sessions may end on around that month or the second semester of the year.
“So, we have the time until the second sem to make sure na ‘yung 156 mailabas natin (that we can release the 156 [sessions]),” he said. “We hope that by this first or second sem, we can already come out with the policy.”
Ledesma encouraged concerned members to avail of other renal replacement therapy (RRT) offers “to achieve better quality of life”.
RRT replaces the kidney’s normal blood filtering function due to failure, acute injury, and chronic disease of the organ.
It includes dialysis (hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis), hemofiltration, hemodiafiltration, and kidney transplantation.
“PhilHealth is providing PHP270,000 in financial support to patients who are on peritoneal dialysis or what we call PD-First,” Ledesma said.
“And for those who have organ donors, PhilHealth pays PHP600,000 for renal patients qualified under our Z benefits for kidney transplantation,” he added. (PNA)
