Was able to renew my Philhealth accreditation yesterday, and as always whenever I successfully complete a transaction with a government office I feel like I have majorly achieved something. Similar anxiety-inducing transactions include drivers’ license renewal with LTO, passport renewal with the DFA, S2 renewal with PDEA, Physician’s license renewal with PRC, and back when I still insisted on not hiring an accountant, tax-related transactions with the BIR. The anxiety is rooted in the need to work my entire week schedule around the task, even cancelling clinics to accommodate it, and the possibility that once I’m there there’s a requirement I had missed, or something is off-line, and I would have to come back some other time. This had happened many times before, when I submitted my requirements to the PRC for the Physician’s Licensure Exam in 2006. I took the bus from Sta. Rosa, took a couple of jeepney rides, and when I got there, the birth certificate I had with me was the original and not the yellow NSO-issued one. I coped with that stressful incident by eating a 12-inch subway sandwich in Glorietta.
As a physician I have to renew my Philhealth accreditation every 3 years so that the patients who get admitted under me can avail of their Philhealth benefits. The renewal also serves as my contribution for my own Philhealth insurance, should I ever need it when I get sick. To prepare for it I had to get certificates of good standing from the three societies I’m a member of: The Philippine Medical Association (the society for all Filipino doctors), The Philippine College of Physicians (the society for internal medicine specialists), and The Philippine Society of Medical Oncology (the society for medical oncologists). A “good standing” usually entails having performed certain tasks and paid the annual fees and all that.
When I got to the Philhealth office I was pretty confident that I already had all the requirements with me. This was my fourth time to renew, and after multiple mistakes in the past I had considered myself an expert. I was deflated, though, when the person checking the requirements said that I would need two more photocopies of the requirements, and have one document notarized. This was not a requirement back in 2022. This delayed me for a good hour, as I had to Google Map my way to a notary public.
Having submitted all my requirements, the personnel then gave me the computation of how much I should pay. To synchronize with my PRC renewal, I had the option to pay only for two years. I knew how much I should pay based on the recent payment adjustments, but I wanted to hear it from her. “P5,000 per month doc, x 24 months, for a total of P120,000”. I went to the cashier and paid the said amount, resigned to my fate.
Not that I have any choice on the matter, but the less painful way of dealing with it is with acceptance.
So just in case there’s a medical professional reading this, these are the updated requirements (because the ones in the website aren’t!)
- Provider Data Record (PDR)
- Performance Commitment (PC) – NOTARIZE!
- Updated PRC License or a copy of any document issued by PRC as proof of renewal of the PRC license.
- 35mm width x 45mm height (Passport size) photo (2pcs)
- Certificate of Good Standing from PMA
- Certificate of Good Standing from specialty society for specialists
- Latest ITR- this will be the basis of their computation of fees
- PHOTOCOPY EVERYTHING TWICE (total of 3 copies).
- CORRECTION- for the Certificates of Good Standing, photocopy them three times (total of 4 copies)! Because they won’t stamp “receiving copy” on the original, only on photocopies.
Having done this task I treated myself to a coffee and sausage croissant in the nearby SM. Whew! Time to start saving for the next renewal!!
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