MANILA –The Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) has formed a Special Task Force (STF) that will investigate the deficiency in the Citizen’s Charter of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).
In a statement Thursday, ARTA said the STF held a virtual meeting this day to discuss the streamlining and reengineering of PhilHealth’s service processes.
ARTA Director General Jeremiah Belgica cited particularly the agency’s Citizen’s Charter which does not state the processing time of their services despite the Ease of Doing Business (EODB) and Efficient Delivery of Government Service Act of 2018, mandating all government offices to complete transactions as early as three days and a maximum of 20 days for complex transactions.
“Looking at their Citizen’s Charter now, it is very apparent that there are no periods stated for the processing time on how long should it take their office to resolve claims,” Belgica said.
According to ARTA, PhilHealth submitted the Citizen’s Charter in December 2019. As early as January this year, ARTA already raised its findings of deficiency in its Charter.
“Any critical service not stated in Citizen’s Charter will automatically be classified as (a) simple transaction and will have a prescribed processing time of three working days,” Belgica added.
Under the law, ARTA may impose sanctions on the agency for violating the EODB law, including administrative liability and six-month suspension for the first offense.
For the second offense, sanctions involved are administrative and criminal liability punishable by dismissal from service, imprisonment of one year to six years, perpetual disqualification from holding public office, fine of not less than PHP500,000 but not more than PHP2 million, and forfeiture of retirement benefits.
“We are very committed to helping all agencies, including PhilHealth, in streamlining and finding a smart solution on their processes, but they need to be forthcoming so we can help them. They should be transparent with their process. Otherwise, we will be constrained to just crack the whip and file the needed cases,” the ARTA chief noted. (PNA)
