The committee on health of the House of Representatives has unanimously approved the bill that strengthens and expands the One Hospital Command Center, which functions to facilitate a comprehensive and coordinated response to the Coronavirus Disease-2019 pandemic by ensuring effective and efficient health facility referral in Metro Manila.
Quezon Rep. Angelina Tan, committee chairman and principal author of the bill, welcomed the approval, saying that “it is urgently needed to bridge the current fragmented health system in terms of service delivery across the spectrum of care by gatekeeping and navigating patients.”
Once enacted, the proposed “National Patient Navigation and Referral System Act” will institutionalize and broaden the scope of the One Hospital Command System to become the National Patient Navigation and Referral System (NPNRS). Its implementing arm, the National Patient Navigation and Referral Center (NPNRC) and the Regional Patient Navigation and Referral Centers (RPNRC) will expand its scope to guide patients through the different levels of health system to reach and access the health facilities they need.
The NPNRC is mandated link with the Malasakit Centers to ensure financial risk protection particularly for the indigent and financially incapacitated patients.
“With its institutionalization, the NPNRS is geared to re-define and reform the nature of the health delivery system of the Philippines to become more responsive and towards greater equity, accessibility, and quality,” Tan said.
Health Undersecretary Leopoldo J. Vega supported the approval of the measure, saying, “The NPNRS will serve as a bridge between healthcare facilities and the patients, supporting them to gain early access to the health services for better outcomes. The connectivity provided will be a breakthrough in the implementation of the Universal Health Care (UHC).”
The Committee on Health has also approved House Bill 9354, authored by Tan, Quezon City Rep. Jose Christopher Belmonte, and Marikina Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo, which amends Republic Act 11525, or the COVID-19 Vaccination Program Act of 2021, by including registered dentists and licensed medical technologists who have received training from the DOH as additional vaccinators beside licensed pharmacists and registered midwives.