State Dining Room, Malacañan Palace
June 19, 2024
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. convened with key officials from the Private Sector Advisory Council-Healthcare Sector Group (PSAC-HSG) to discuss updates on its recommendations and progress notes regarding the Building Capacity and Capability Program, medicine accessibility and strengthening of PhilHealth in a meeting at the State Dining Room in Malacañan Palace.
The Group presented its ongoing initiatives, such as the Building Capacity and Capability Program for the Clinical Care Associates (CCA) Program, with the first batch of 457 CCAs reviewing at seven (7) higher education institutions (HEIs) by November 2024, and plans to recruit a second batch for the Nursing Board Exam on May 2025.
Additionally, the Group is rolling out an Enhanced Master’s in Nursing Program, a one-year accelerated Master’s program already approved for implementation, and is continuing to develop the Human Resources for Health (HRH) Programs for nurses through ongoing inter-agency collaboration on various initiatives such as bilateral labor agreements (BLA), the Balik Nurse Program and others.
The PSAC-HSG also proposed three (3) solutions to further increase access to essential medicines in the country. These proposals include supporting the Health Technology Assessment Council (HTAC) capacity-building to facilitate the inclusion of more essential medicines in the Philippine National Formulary (PNF), thereby establishing the Philippines as a center of excellence for clinical trials, and considering tax reliefs for certain pharmaceutical operations.
Furthermore, the Health Sector Group highlighted PhilHealth’s digital transformation work in progress, which includes the Integrated Health Insurance Digital Transformation Systems (IHIDTS) comprising four (4) outsourced systems: the National Health Data Repository (NHDR), Health Insurance System (HIS), Business Intelligence System (BIS), and Support Services Management Information System (SSMIS).
The Group underscored continuous collaboration with PhilHealth and the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to realize the IHIDTS by 2025, as well as the ongoing update and expansion of PhilHealth’s benefit packages.
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