COOPERATIVE OWNED HEALTH CLINICS

There is now an opportunity for cooperatives to operate their own health clinics, perhaps as an alternative to the government operated Barangay Health Units (BHUs). Unlike the BHUs however, the Cooperative Health Clinics (CHCs) have to be run as commercial enterprises, and not as charitable or as public service clinics. What that means is that the cooperative members have to pay for the goods and services that they get from the CHC, although at much cheaper and more affordable prices. That is so because the cooperatives could sell free of retail taxes, and on top of that, they could also offer patronage discounts and stock dividends. What makes this opportunity more attractive is that the costs of some goods and services could be reimbursed by PHILHEALTH, and on top of that, the cooperatives could even earn some revenues because of the incentives that the health insurer has allocated to participating clinics. In order to be accredited by PHILHEALTH however, the CHCs need to have full time doctors on duty, and they also need to have access to pharmacy supplies and diagnostic laboratory services. On top of that, they need to maintain Electronic Medical Records (EMR) that should be protected by data privacy laws. If you are part of a cooperative and you need help in putting up your own CHC, let me know so that I could connect you to accredited providers. IKE SENERES/12-26-2023