Filipinos have expressed high satisfaction with the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) with a net satisfaction rating of 93.75 percent for the year 2022, higher by more than three percent from 90.19 percent in 2021 and the highest since 2019.
This was the result of a study conducted by Novo Trends PH, Inc. in September 2022 with 3,000 individual member-respondents who have availed of various services in select PhilHealth frontline offices in all regional offices nationwide. Other respondents include employers and/or their representatives with 1,000 interviewees, and healthcare institutions and professionals with 500 interviewees each.
Novo Trends PH, Inc. is an independent social research survey company specializing in the collection and analysis of social, political, economic, and business data. It was engaged by PhilHealth for the said survey using a questionnaire developed and prescribed by the Governance Commission for Government-Owned and Controlled Corporations (GCG) in 2018 for use by all government-owned and controlled corporations such as PhilHealth.
Individual customers and healthcare institutions gave significantly higher net satisfaction ratings in 2022 than in previous years, with the latter giving PhilHealth a net satisfaction rating of 86.79 percent, followed by employers at 86.31 percent, and healthcare professionals at 79.83 percent, all of which are considered excellent ratings.
Among the respondents, individual customers gave a high net satisfaction rating for two consecutive years, citing the “quality of PhilHealth staff and services they received” and the quality of transactions described as “organized, systematic, fast, and easy” as the basis for the rating. They also expressed satisfaction with the information given to them, especially about the requirements for availing of benefits, the environment and facilities at the Local Health Insurance Offices, and the benefits that they and their families have received during hospitalization.
Individual respondents from PhilHealth Regional Office (PRO) CARAGA and BARMM showed the highest net satisfaction rating at 98.67 percent, followed by PROs II and NCR North (covering Caloocan, Manila, Navotas, Valenzuela, Malabon, and Mandaluyong) with 98 percent, and PROs V and VIII with both 97.33 percent.
Healthcare institutions, which gave the lowest rating to PhilHealth in 2021, reported a significant improvement in net rating from 77.14 percent to 86.79 percent or a 9.65 percent increase. Feedback gathered includes “mabilis ang transactions, mabait ang staff” and “payment for our reimbursement is now more updated than the previous years”. The majority of the representatives of health care providers went to the LHIOs to submit requirements for their accreditation. PROs BARMM and III-A got 100 percent net satisfaction ratings each, followed by NCR North, XII, and CARAGA with 96 percent each, and CAR with 89.47 percent.
For employers/representatives, PhilHealth received a net satisfaction of 86.31 percent. They cited “convenience in payment” and “polite employees and specified information given to client when some queries are asked” as reasons for their satisfaction. Employer representatives gave PRO 3A a 100 percent net satisfaction rating followed by PRO 12 at 98 percent while PROs BARMM, NCR North, V, and VIII got 94 percent each.
On the other hand, health care professionals noted the “very fast action and people courteous to all” and “malaki ang improvement ng services at facilities, convenient sa client”.
In general, respondents said that the top factors affecting PhilHealth’s performance are the LHIOs’ accessibility, physical space and appearance, queueing arrangements, cleanliness, and well-trained and knowledgeable staff who also treat customers with respect, fairness, and prompt action for their requests and queries.
Meanwhile, PhilHealth President and CEO Emmanuel R. Ledesma, Jr. expressed elation over the 2022 results, and vowed to continue implementing reforms for the benefit of millions of Filipinos here and abroad. “Nagsalita na ang mga tao sa tunay na saloobin nila sa PhilHealth. Kami po ay lubos na natutuwa sa magandang balitang ito at ito ay dahil sa pagsisikap ng buong Team PhilHealth. Makakaasa ang ating mga kababayan na ipagpapatuloy namin ang de-kalidad na serbisyo para lalo nilang maramdaman ang mga benepisyo ng PhilHealth at Universal Health Care.”
