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Last March, PascualLab partnered with Intellicare to conduct a pre-medical mission in Payatas. Read more about the healthcare program in The Philippine Star’s April 2014 article.
As Intellicare celebrates its 18th anniversary, a special ad series was released last November 21, 2013 on both the Philippine Star and the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Philippine Star
Often every 3 years, companies begin to feel the itch for a new HMO for their employees. Such is the average life-span of a company-HMO relationship, confirms Norman Amora, Vice President for Sales and Marketing of leading HMO Intellicare. But it need not be that way. Intellicare’s relationships with a lot of its clients prove it.
The need to look for a new one is usually triggered by laxity or the sudden successive failures of HMOs to deliver on their promises. Sometimes, it happens when top management actually experiences the failure of the HMO. This habit of shifting every 3 years or so can put a tremendous stress on companies, their employees, most especially who benefit from the health plans.
Part of what makes the use of HMO cards effective is the cardholder’s knowledge and keen understanding of the coverage of the plan. If a member does have a clear understanding of what his or her health policy covers, the member is able to maximize the use of the card to its best potential.
The set of pre-existing conditions in particular is a critical portion of a health plan. This is one aspect that leading HMO Intellicare pays meticulous attention to.
For Intellicare, a health plan’s set of pre-existing conditions defined early on is something they could never overemphasize. To them, no one should ever underestimate the repercussions of a misunderstood health plan.
By standards, pre-existing conditions are usually not covered on the first year of one’s membership. However, for corporate accounts, the one year waiting period may be waived depending on the agreement based on negotiations. Examples of pre-existing conditions include hypertension, goiter, cataract, tumor, cyst, arthritis, diabetes and cancer.
The process of acquiring the services of an HMO is similar to that when a customer acquires any other form of services —they always require a very careful study in terms of benefits in relation to cost. Cost is often the hurdle that has to be overcome in the selection of an HMO simply because it has implications in the form of budget constraints.
A rise in cost of health care benefits is inevitable, much like every other service.
Health beneficiaries and companies are entitled to object of course for obvious reasons but there are a handful of factors that bring about this result. Factors that affect cost push and which are beyond control are – cost of medication, a unilateral increase in hospital fees, compounded by the demand of physicians for higher fees.
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Philippine Star
Getting sick can be quite expensive these days. The cost of getting checked, the price of medicines and more so the amounts spent for hospitalization can be quite daunting, often leading many to just bear their pain and suffer in silence. While the Philippines boasts of having some of the best medical practitioners and healthcare providers in the world, they are, ironically, less available to the masses of the Filipino people. This has often led to an unhealthy reliance on self-medication or worse obtaining medical advice from incompetent, unauthorized and unscrupulous individuals.
The sad reality is that many Filipinos are not covered by Philhealth or other public or private healthcare programs. And even if an individual is covered by Philhealth, the subsidy one receives under this system is a mere percentage of overall healthcare cost. As a result, patients are often left to cover the remainder of their expenses by burning a hole through their pockets. In fact, according to Virtual-Asia.com, in a Philippine Special Report dated December 2001, entitled “The Healthcare System in the Philippines”, they say that “while there exists a national health insurance program, pension funds and private insurance plans, personal expenses still account for about 57 percent of all health expenditures.” Further, and adding to the woes of the common “Juan”, it was likewise noted that the prices of medicine in the Philippines are among the highest in the region. Under these circumstances, what can Juan do?
Intellicare reinforced its presence in Angeles, Pampanga with the guesting and appearance of our very wise, witty and sensible Chairman and President Mario M. Silos in What’s Up Doc? last February. It is a local TV program aired in Pampanga and nearby towns of neighboring provinces Bataan and Bulacan. Dr. Ruben Henson, Intellicare’s accredited doctor and owner of Clinica Henson hosts the show.
The interview presented an opportunity for the President to incisively discuss issues concerning the state of health care in the country, the HMO industry in general, and of course, Intellicare as a company. In addition, he was able to promote the opening of the Angeles satellite office. What’s Up Doc? is aired at ACCTV channel every Tuesday and Thursday at 10:00 in the morning and Saturday at 10:00 in the evening.
The consistency in service of HMOs must never vary. If patients get outstanding service in Metro Manila or where an HMO’s business is concentrated, then patients from other parts of the country must get the same deal. In the world of health care, no discrimination or neglect of any form should ever be allowed.
Leading HMO Intellicare is one HMO that strongly adheres to this belief.
HMOs are not entirely business ventures, as Intellicare has been tirelessly pointing out. It’s a business that should actually care, where one must be very keen enough 24/7, no matter the stress caused by irate patients and their families. Health care is a venture that has no room for compromises or excuses.
Unpleasant experiences with HMOs usually come from their lack of consistency in service. This consistency is manifested on two fronts—customer service and their medical facility affiliates.
Daily Informer
Philippine Star
Continue reading “Intellicare’s Service Consistency Nationwide” »
Companies have varied criteria when they asses the performance of their HMO. The most common would include efficiency of service.
Were there no glitches in the processing of an employee’s hospitalization? Did the employee patient complain about any missteps involving the HMO? Were their employees taken to or referred to the right medical facility or professionals? These are the common questions that companies ponder when crunch time comes or that point when they decide for or against another contract with their HMO.
But that’s not all there is to service. Leading local HMO Intellicare says outstanding service should include things beyond the basic and that companies should realize the necessity to ask for more without necessarily asking for too much.
Intellicare cardholders have many reasons to be satisfied. For one, opting to go to the clinic puts their worry about high medical costs aside.
With HMO costs rising, HMOs should find themselves competing for corporate attention by promoting their upgraded brand of services. Intellicare is one step ahead. They’ve been at the top of their game in offering innovations long before anyone could seriously claim to be doing likewise.
Panay News
Philippine Star
