The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) grants clearance for the conduct of the “Comprehensive Outpatient Benefit Package (COBP) and Coordinated Approach to Community Health Towards UHC (CATCH) Project: Baseline Assessment of the Implementation of Provider Payment and Outpatient Benefit Reforms in the Philippines”. The proponent of this statistical activity is the Department of Health (DOH), in cooperation with the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), while the conducting agency is the Philippine Institute for Development Studies.

This statistical activity aims to conduct a baseline assessment of the local health system in four Healthcare Provider Network (HCPN) demonstration sites (formerly Universal Health Care (UHC) CATCH sites) and four comparator sites. Specifically, the activity will describe the characteristics of households, healthcare providers, and facilities in both the demonstration and comparator sites. Additionally, it will identify major gaps in the current health system and potential opportunities for improvement.

The baseline assessment will serve as a basis for expanding provider payment reforms nationwide. This initiative will ultimately enable the DOH and PhilHealth to evaluate these payment reforms and the expansion of health insurance under the UHC Act.

With a total of eight sites or provinces as domains, four surveys shall be conducted capturing the following major data items:

  1. Health Facility Survey (HFS)
     1.1. Facility identifiers and characteristics
     1.2. Functional requirements
     1.3. Health workforce, benefits, and compensation
     1.4. Facility beds, isolation units, and outsourcing services
     1.5. Governance and management
     1.6. Service availability and readiness
     1.7. Accessibility
     1.8. Affordability
     1.9. Health financing and accounting
     1.10 Health Information Systems
     1.11. Quality of healthcare services

  2. Healthcare Provider Survey (HPS)
     2.1. Knowledge and Competency, i.e., education and experience, general training, and skills
     2.2. Compensation
     2.3. Provider effort and motivation
     2.4. Quality of care
     2.5. Continuity of care
     2.6. Coordination and referral pathways

  3. Clinical Vignettes Survey (CVS)
    Sufficiency of information to provide effective and accurate patient care

  4. Population (Demand-Side) Survey (PS)
     4.1. Household characteristics
     4.2. Household expenditures
     4.3. Social determinants of health
     4.4. Health literacy
     4.5. Health-related quality of life
     4.6. Efficiency and effectiveness of health services, i.e., organizational access, access to medicines, health care utilization, preventive care, acute outpatient care, and inpatient care.
     4.7.  Noncommunicable diseases
     4.8.  Infectious diseases

The statistical activity will utilize a total budget of PhP 22 million.

From the eight study sites/provinces¹, data shall be collected from 166 health facilities for the HFS, 1,276 healthcare providers (i.e., physicians, nurses, and midwives) for the HPS², and 5,178 individuals for the PS. Questionnaires will be distributed and collected from August to October 2024, and the survey results are expected to be released in January 2025.

The “Comprehensive Outpatient Benefit Package (COBP) and Coordinated Approach to Community Health Towards UHC (CATCH) Project: Baseline Assessment of the Implementation of Provider Payment and Outpatient Benefit Reforms in the Philippines” was reviewed and cleared for conduct under the Statistical Survey Review and Clearance System (SSRCS). This mechanism is implemented by the PSA by virtue of Rule 28 of Implementing Rules and Regulations of Republic Act No. 10625 to:
     1. Ensure sound design for data collection
     2. Minimize the burden placed upon respondents 
     3. Effect economy in statistical data collection 
     4. Eliminate unnecessary duplication of statistical data collection efforts 
     5. Achieve better coordination of government statistical activities

In line with this, the PSA encourages all sampled individuals, health facilities, and healthcare providers to participate in this statistical activity by providing accurate and truthful information.

For further information on SSRCS, please contact the PSA Statistical Standards Division of the Standards Service at ssd.staff@psa.gov.ph.




CLAIRE DENNIS S. MAPA, PhD
Undersecretary 
National Statistician and Civil Registrar General

¹The HCPN demonstration sites are selected using shortlisting criteria from the Department of Health, which include UHC Integration Site, Local Health System Maturity, and 100% Preparatory Level, among others. Meanwhile, the comparator sites, chosen from the shortlisted sites by the DOH and PhilHealth, are those without an existing PhilHealth sandbox in the province to reduce possible confounders in the analysis. 
²The CVS shall sample 262 select healthcare providers from the sampled 1,276 health care providers.