The Department of Health hoped that the appointment of the new acting president and chief executive officer will help in reforming the Philippine Health Insurance Corp.
Health officials welcomed the appointment of Emmanuel Ledesma Jr. as the acting president/CEO of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) as they expressed hopes that his management would hasten “reforms” in PhilHealth, which has recently been shaken by allegations of corruption, dubious fund disbursements, false patient claims, and stalled hospital payments.
Ledesma was already a member of the PhilHealth board of directors prior to this new position, Inquirer reported.
DOH officer-in-charge (OIC) Maria Rosario Vergeire said that Ledesma has the qualifications and experiences in management and governance.
“We will just be guiding and working together with Ledesma with this post he’s been given. And there are a lot of excellent officials who can very well support him.” Vergeire said.
She added that PhilHealth requires technical know-how especially on financing, actuaries, and insurance systems.
Vergeire and her team will be meeting soon with Ledesma and other PhilHealth officials, including his processor Eli Santos, on Monday.
PhilHealth reforms
Vergeire will advise Ledesma to continue with and hasten these PhilHealth reforms as one of his directives as president/ CEO.
Among the reforms would be the expansion of outpatient benefit packages to include one for mental health, improvement of the payment scheme for healthcare providers, and having a “third-party risk assessment” to determine weaknesses in the PhilHealth Systems.
President Marcos tasked PhilHealth to check the “best practices” and include digitalization for improving health insurance operations and offering health benefits.
Ledesma’s history in PSALM
Ledesma was appointed as head of the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) in September 2010. However, he was suspended for 90 days in May 2015 following a principals board meeting.
PSALM is primarily responsible for the efficient sale and privatization of the public sector's power assets.
The cause of his suspension was not known, but industry insiders later pointed to PSALM's choice to alter the method of procurement for the renovations of hydroelectric facility Agus in Marawi City.
Ledesma was recommended to be replaced by the Governance Commission for government-owned and controlled enterprises (GOCCs) prior to his suspension because of a complaint by a group calling itself "Concerned Employees of PSALM."
In response, Ledesma questioned his suspension for being patently illegal and sought for a legal opinion on whether the PSALM board had the authority to suspend him as president/CEO, as well as to designate an OIC.
Ledesma eventually resigned in 2015 and said in his resignation letter addressed to Former President Benigno Aquino III that it was an “orchestrated effort” to remove him but also insisted that the charges against him were “without basis.”
Ledesma also worked for various companies such as the Philippine Commercial International Bank, PCI Capital Corp., Bankers Trust Company, Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc. and Royal Bank of Canada.
Tags: #PhilHealth, #OIC, #Reform