Manila – The Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF) Local Fiscal Policy Service (LFPS) OIC Director Brenda L. Miranda emphasized the importance of capturing and reporting Special Health Fund (SHF) receipt and expenditures of local government units (LGUs) through the LGU Integrated Financial Tools (LIFT) System at the Department of Health (DOH) – PhilHealth Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Orientation-Workshop for Public Sandbox Sites on the Primacy Care Provider Network (PCPN) Contracting Agreements held from 12 to 14 December 2022 in Manila.

Director Miranda assured the DOH, PhilHealth and partner agencies of the BLGF’s commitment to issue necessary guidelines for the implementation of the SHF reports in the LIFT System to generate the periodic Statement of Receipts and Expenditures (SRE) and assist the Department of Health (DOH) and PhilHealth on the SHF financial analysis.

The DOH, Department of Finance (DOF), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), and PhilHealth issued a Joint Memorandum Circular No. 2021-0001 dated 13 January 2021 providing guidelines on the strategic allocation, efficient utilization and monitoring, and clear accountability on the use of the SHF pursuant to Republic Act (RA) No. 11223, known as the Universal Health Care Act (UHC).

Per the UHC Act, SHF is a province-wide or city-wide health system that pools all resources intended for health services to finance population-based and individual-based health services, operation cost, capital investments and remuneration of health workers. The said law also mandates PhilHealth to implement the PCPN Konsulta providers Contracting Arrangement into sandbox sites through PhilHealth Circular (PC) No. 2022-0023.

Participants who successfully completed the course were oriented on the concept of financial integration of the local health system, simulation of the PCPN processes in the implementation of sandbox SHF processes, and identification of the core requirements for accreditation of PhilHealth Konsulta providers.