Republic of the Philippines

Department of Health
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

September 28, 2021

DEPARTMENT CIRCULAR
0454
No. 2021-

FOR : ALL DOH CENTER FOR HEALTH DEVELOPMENT

REGIONAL DIRECTORS, HEALTH FACILITIES AND
SERVICES REGULATORY BUREAU (HFSRB) DIVISION
CHIEFS, REGULATORY LICENSING AND ENFORCEMENT
DIVISION (RLED) CHIEFS, HFSRB AND RLED
REGULATORY OFFICERS, CHIEFS OF HOSPITALS AND
HOSPITAL MEDICAL DIRECTORS, HEADS/MEDICAL
DIRECTORS OF OTHER HEALTH FACILITIES

SUBJECT : Utilization of the DOH Health Facility Price Advisory Mobile

Application for Public Access to Price Information by Hospitals and
other Health Facility Service Providers

Section 28 (¢) under Affordability of the Universal Health Care Act states that “Health care
providers and facilities shall be required to make readily accessible to the public and submit to
DOH and PhilHealth, all pertinent, relevant, and up-to-date information regarding the prices of
health services, and all goods and services being offered.”

In January 18, 2021, Administrative Order 2021-0008 entitled “Guidelines in Public Access
to Price Information of All Health Services and Goods in Health Facilities in the Philippines” was
issued to require all healthcare providers, private and government, to make accessible to the public
the prices of health services including, but not limited to, cost of amenities, cost of service and
procedures, laboratory fees and professional fees. Further, the price list shall be readily available
to the public in a conspicuous place in the health facility and shall be regularly updated with the
changes in prices and services.

Relative thereto, the DOH Health Facility Price Advisory (HFPA) online system was
developed with the following goals:
1. To ease and standardize the posting of prices by the health facilities
2. To simplify monitoring of prices by the DOH and Philhealth
3. To make price information more accessible to the public
4. To provide other benefits to the public such as information on the location of hospitals,
hospital emergency hotlines, and search engine for hospital offering a specific service

Henceforth, all government and private hospitals and healthcare providers are directed to
post their prices on the DOH Health Facility Price Advisory (HFPA) online system.

Building 1, San Lazaro Compound, Rizal Avenue, Sta. Cruz, 1003 Manila ® Trunk Line 651-7800 local 1108, 1111, 1112, 1113
Direct Line: 711-9502; 711-9503 Fax: 743-1829 e URL: http://www.doh.gov.ph; e-mail: [email protected]
 For the maintenance and smooth operation of the Health Facility Price Advisory
Application, the roles and responsibilities of the different agencies are as follows:

1. Health Facility Service Providers

a. Regularly update the system with their changes in prices and services
b. Comply with the guidelines as stipulated in the issuance and any subsequent updates and
changes thereto
Provide relevant feedback to better improve the system
a0
Designate personnel tasked to promptly encode and submit data to the DOH;
0 Ensure the validity and integrity of data to be entered in the system;
- Report issues, concerns, and/or problems that and/or that may arise during system
operations to the HFSRB/CHD-RLEDs for appropriate action.

2. Health Facilities and Services Regulatory Bureau (HFSRB) — The HFSRB is the system
owner and overall System Coordinator of the Health Facility Price Advisory and shall be
responsible for the following:
a. Formulate or update standards i.e. reporting forms, standard policies, procedures,
guidelines and other relative to the implementation of the system;
b. Formulate and implement standards to protect the integrity of the system, security and
confidentiality of the data;
Manage all users’ authorization access and rights;
ae
Review for suspension, termination or lifting of users’ accounts;
Generate, validates and analyze reports or information;
So
Release or post official reports to DOH-HFSRB website;
© Monitor and evaluate system implementation.

3. Knowledge Management and Information Technology Service (KMITS) — provide

technical support in the following:
a. Train the HFSRB (system owner) and CHDs (RLED and CMTs) on how to use or
operate the system;
Manage and administer the production server and backup database;
c. Extend technical assistance or support to health facilities and CHD in troubleshooting
system-related problems
d. Responsible in the enhancement of the system due to changes on the procedures and
policies upon instruction(s) from the system owner

4. Center for Health Development Offices (RLEDs and Computer Maintenance

Technologists/IT Personnel)
a. Conducts training for their respective health facilities
b. Monitors the health facility compliance
c. Provide first level of assistance to health facility on problems related to the operations of
the system
d. Conducts verification/validation of registration of accounts of their respective health
facilities
 The encoding and posting of prices of hospitals in the Health Facility Price Advisory
Application shall commence on October 1, 2021 and shall be part of the requirements for the
renewal of DOH-LTO or DOH-COA for CY 2022 and onwards. Meanwhile, other licensed health
facilities shall be required to input their price list in the HFPA system July 1, 2022.

For strict compliance.

By Authority of the Secretary of Health:

ATTY. CHARADE MERCADO-GRANDE

B.

Undersecretary of Hea
Health Regulation Team
 Republic of the Philippines
Department of Health
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

17 November 2019

DEPARTMENT CIRCULAR
No. 2019- 0558

FOR : ALL DOH CENTER FOR HEALTH DEVELOPMENT

REGIONAL DIRECTORS, HEALTH FACILITIES AND
SERVICES REGULATORY BUREAU (HFSRB)
DIVISION CHIEFS, REGULATORY LICENSING AND
ENFORCEMENT DIVISION (RLED) CHIEFS, HFSRB
AND RLED REGULATORY OFFICERS, CHIEFS OF
HOSPITALS AND HOSPITAL MEDICAL DIRECTORS,
HEADS/MEDICAL DIRECTORS OF OTHER HEALTH
FACILITIES

SUBJECT : Public Access to the Price Information by all Healthcare

Providers

Section 28.16 of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of RA11223, also known as,
“Universal Health Care Act”, states that “Health care providers and facilities shall be
required to make readily accessible to the public and patients and submit to DOH and
PhilHealth, all pertinent, relevant, and up-to-date information regarding the prices of health
services, and all goods and services being offered.”

In line with this, all hospitals and other health facilities, both government and private, shall
be required to make accessible to the public and all patients a price list of all their health
services, including but not limited to, cost of amenities, cost of health services and
procedures, laboratory fees, and professional fees. The price list shall be readily available to
the public in a conspicuous area in the health facility, whether posted, in a printed handout,
menu, or electronic form. The price list should be regularly updated with the changes in
services and prices.

The availability of the price list to the public and patients shall be implemented immediately
as a licensing requirement for initial application of License to Operate (LTO) or Certificate
of Accreditation (COA). However, for the renewal of LTO and COA for
2021, hospitals and
other health facilities shall be required to comply with this requirement during inspection
and monitoring activities starting April 1, 2020.

For strict compliance.

By Authority of the Secretary of Health:

Ap

ROLANDO/ENRIQUE D. DOMINGO, MD, DPBO

Undersecretary of Health
'
Health Regulation Team

‘Building 1, San Lazaro Compound, Rizal Avenue, Sta. Cruz, 1003 Manila @ Trunk Line 651-7800 local 1108, 1111, L112, 1113
Direct Line: 711-9502; 711-9503 Fax: 743-1829 e URL: http://www.doh.gov.ph; e-mail: [email protected]