The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) will now cover more hemodialysis sessions for those with kidney diseases in a bid to lessen the financial burden of its members.

In a statement, PhilHealth president and chief executive officer Alexander Padilla said that coverage for hemodialysis will be expanded from 45 to 90 sessions per year.

“The PhilHealth Board of Directors approved the expansion due to the growing incidence of kidney diseases in the country and to respond to the increasing clamor from different stakeholders to increase PhilHealth coverage for hemodialysis,” he said.

Padilla said the increase in coverage was made possible by the lowering of the case rate amount from P4,000 to only P2,500 per session.

“Based on a series of consultative meetings and dialogues with our stakeholders, our current coverage of P4,000 for hemodialysis is more than enough to cover the treatment cost per session, thus, we are adjusting the case rate amount,” said Padilla.

...

InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5

MANILA - The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) has announced that coverage for hemodialysis is now expanded from 45 to 90 sessions per year in order to help lessen the financial burden of its members undergoing the treatment.

The PhilHealth Board of Directors approved the expansion due to the growing incidence of kidney diseases in the country and to respond to the increasing clamor from different stakeholders to increase PhilHealth coverage for hemodialysis.

“Based on a series of consultative meetings and dialogues with our stakeholders, our current coverage of P4,000 for hemodialysis is more than enough to cover the treatment cost per session, thus, we are adjusting the case rate amount to P2,500 per session but extending the number of sessions per year,” said PhilHealth President and CEO Alexander Padilla.

Padilla also explained that the reduction in the package amount will extend the members’ accessibility to the treatment of up to 90 sessions per year instead of the current maximum allowable sessions of 45 per year. “We want to assure our members that this adjustment will not in any way affect the quality of care being provided by our accredited facilities,” Padilla added.

With this new development, PhilHealth members including their qualified dependents undergoing dialysis treatment are ensured of longer sessions in a year thereby reducing out-of-pocket expenses to achieve better health outcomes. The adjusted PhilHealth coverage of P2,500 per session includes payment for facilities and professional fees of attending physicians.

PhilHealth records show that in 2014, hemodialysis posted the most number of filed claims among procedures at 691,489, with total benefit payments amounting to P4,666,806,642.

PhilHealth members can avail themselves of the benefit package at any of its accredited Free Standing Dialysis Centers and hospitals nationwide.

...

Spina bifida patient, Elizabeth Nario, is joined by the Miller Children’s Pediatric Urology & Nephrology care team to officially unveil the new Larry & Helen Hoag Foundation Pediatric Urology & Nephrology Center.

At a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday, June 18, Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital Long Beach unveiled the new Larry & Helen Hoag Foundation Pediatric Urology & Nephrology Center – an outpatient center dedicated to providing comprehensive, multi-disciplinary urologic and renal care.

The Larry & Helen Hoag Foundation Pediatric Urology & Nephrology Center merges Miller Children’s urology and nephrology (renal) programs, making it one of the only comprehensive centers of its kind in Southern California. The consolidation of disciplines better serves patients in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of kidney and urological diseases, while continuing to provide quality patient and family centered care and conduct innovative research.

The new Center was made possible by a generous lead gift from The Larry & Helen Hoag Foundation secured by the Memorial Medical Center Foundation, as well as proceeds from the 2014 Champions Club Spring Classic, an annual golf tournament held at the Virginia Country Club (VCC), led by VCC’s Jamie Mulligan and Whit Latimer, Memorial Medical Center Foundation board member.

Mrs. Hoag has been one of the leading philanthropists supporting Miller Children's for nearly a decade. In 2009, an endowment was established in her name to support the cleft lip and palate program at the Stramski Children’s Developmental Center at Miller Children’s. In 2010, Mrs. Hoag made a transformational gift to establish the Helen E. Hoag Endowed Chair in Pediatric Cardiovascular Surgery, a position that was filled by Shaun Setty, M.D. In addition, Mrs. Hoag has provided funds for capital equipment and research projects for a variety of programs at Miller Children’s.

“I want to express my appreciation to the Larry & Helen Hoag Foundation,” says Divya Joshi, M.D., MMM, chief medical officer, Miller Children’s. “Their generosity is why this center became a reality. This event marks the culmination of an idea that began more than two years ago – to create an innovative new center that gives our patients with urological and renal conditions the best possible care. Today, we have achieved that goal.”

The Center features multiple large exam rooms, conference and consultation rooms for patients to speak privately with their physician and a procedure room. The procedure room has a dedicated C-arm – a minimally invasive imaging device, which allows for more cost-effective outpatient care and pain-reduced procedures.

The new Center puts Miller Children’s at the forefront of urological and renal care because of its ability to provide patients with unique treatment options and procedures ranging from identifying signs of fetal urologic anomalies in utero, to conducting reconstructive surgery using robotic techniques.

Marisol Barajas, District Director, Office of Assembly Member Patrick O’Donnell (right), presents Anne Tanner, executive director, Outpatient Specialty Centers, Miller Children’s (left), with a certificate marking the grand opening of the new Center.

...

In a breakthrough in dialysis technique, a team of doctors at a city hospital inserted a special needle through a patient's right thigh to reach her heart and from there created a channel in veins of right arm to ensure passage of blood.

Rama Devi's case, which has recently been acknowledged by a reputed international medical journal, brings a ray of hope for many dialysis patients with blockage of dialysis fistula.

Fistulas are created surgically for dialysis in people with severe kidney disease.

"Rama Devi's left arm fistula was already blocked, while the right arm one was badly swollen and had 100 per cent blockage in right upper body main vein which made her dialysis difficult day by day.

"It was great challenge to create a channel between blocked vein in the right arm and heart to save the patient's arm and to protect the only working dialysis fistula. She was high risk for any surgical procedure," said Dr Amit Malik, Senior Cardiologist at BLK Super Speciality Hospital.

"We planned to do angioplasty of the blocked vein, but the site of blockage was very near to heart and right lung and there was very high risk of injury to these vital organs.

"A specially designed long needle (Trans Septal Needle) was inserted to form a vein in right thigh which reaches up to heart and a channel was created between heart and blocked right arm vein. This channel was dilated with special balloons and special stent was placed in new channel to keep it open," said Dr Malik.

The team has been monitoring 52-year-old Rama Devi, who is doing well now. The surgery which took place on October 10 last year was acknowledged and published at the prestigious international journal 'Cardiovascular Intervention and Therapeutics' recently.

It was 150-minute surgery done under local anaesthesia and patient was awake during the entire procedure.

"Within 24 hours after the procedure, her arm's swelling subsided and she underwent dialysis without any difficulty. Patient was discharged 48 hours after the procedure. Many dialysis patients with blockages in fistula arm will get benefit with this technique," said Dr Sunil Prakash, Head of Department of Nephrology at the hospital.

...