Philhealth adopts online remittance reporting

MANILA, Philippines -  The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (Philhealth) has come up with a program wherein employers in the government and private sectors can report their remittances on-line.

In Circular No. 30-2010, Philhealth president and chief executive officer Dr. Rey Aquino said employers could submit their remittance reports “more conveniently” through electronic premium reporting system (EPRS).

“The EPRS is a web-based application that promotes faster and easier submission of monthly remittance reports. It will also expedite the posting and reconciliation of employer’s and member’s premium contributions,” he noted.

According to Aquino, EPRS was conceptualized in line with Philhealth’s efforts to establish “an efficient premium collection mechanism and maintaining an updated membership and contribution database to ensure the viability, adequacy and responsiveness of the National Health Insurance program.”

Under the program, interested employers will have to enroll to be able to use EPRS. They are also requirement to attend training before they can activate and create their user accounts.

The program has been available since October 2010.

“They should also have Internet access and email address, their own PhilHealth employer number, and should be directly remitting to PhilHealth through the over-the-counter collection system,” he added.

The employers’ baseline data, however, must contain an active list of their employees with their corresponding Philhealth identification number.

“Once the employer representative completes the training, we will issue the certificate of EPRS so that the employer can access the system upon activation of their user account,” he maintained.