(UPDATE) PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. instructed the Department of Health (DOH) to extend to 120 days the filing period for hospital reimbursement claims to ease payment from the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. or PhilHealth. In a press briefing on Wednesday, Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Undersecretary Claire Castro said the president issued the order after the Palace received reports that more than P1 billion in claims and reimbursements were not paid on time. “Regarding the alleged unpaid claims to PhilHealth, according to the DOH, there is a date by which hospitals must submit their claims. There is a period within 60 days, and most other hospitals are not able to immediately provide their documents for their claims,” Castro said in Filipino. “The president ordered that the period for hospitals to submit claims be extended up to 120 days. This is what is called Claim’s Flexibility. Through this, the DOH and PhilHealth would be able to meet their obligations. All we want is for the hospitals to provide their documents on time,” she added. The Commission on Audit last week called the attention of the DOH and told the agency to address the more than P1 billion in unpaid claims to PhilHealth, including compensation due to health care workers. The audit report said that 12 DOH-retained hospitals encountered difficulties in ensuring the accuracy and collectability of denied and return-to-hospital claims from the state health insurer, which amounted to P786.6 million and P298.7 million, respectively, due to “persistent non-compliance” with the processing guidelines set by PhilHealth.