It was a long road but it was worth taking!

Our journey to ISO Certification began early last year when we were chosen to be the first Local Health Insurance Office (LHIO) in PhilHealth Regional Office I that should be ISO-Certified.

At first, we did not know what we were getting into. When PRO I conducted trainings on the Quality Mangement System (QMS), we were enlightened on what we were about to face and what road we were about to take.

We knew that the ISO 9001 certification will identify us as an organization that values quality management and launch us into a class of companies and organizations that can proudly claim a focus on customer service and commitment to continual improvement. Yes, it will bring us honor and pride, but the road towards ISO Certification will require us to exert more efforts in pursuit of a bigger goal. But one thing is for sure: we needed to get out of our comfort zones and officially adopt the Philippine Social Health Insurance Management System or PSHIMS.

How did we start?

First, we created a Committee on 5S Implementation headed by Marife Mendoza; a Committee on Work and Quality Improvement chaired by the author; Committee on Records handled by Sheryle Domingo and Committee on Public Assistance and Complaints headed by Joy Maceda.

After the creation of the committees, Mendoza conducted a re-echo session on Basic Quality and Productivity Improvement Approaches for us to better understand the steps that we needed to take. Immediately, 5S implementation followed. We started fixing our files, segregating and placing them in properly labeled folders. We removed our clutter, cleared the top of our tables and arranged our files neatly and properly. We also started to document everything and made sure that all our records were properly maintained. We always reminded ourselves of the habit of “clean as you go.” Every corner of the office should always be free of clutter and unnecessary things; everything should be in its proper place. In short, we should always observe discipline.

During the initial visit of the Internal Quality Audit team, we realized that we needed to exert more effort and learn more in order to attain our goal. We decided to have a “Lakbay-Aral” to LHIO Calamba, the first ISO-Certified LHIO.

Last November 13, 2015 we visited LHIO Calamba and we were warmly welcomed by the LHIO Head, Ma. Teresa Alba and her staff. We went around the office and had a one-on-one consultation with every employee in LHIO Calamba. They also presented to us how they went through their journey towards ISO Certification. Alba and her staff were generous enough to share with us all the things we needed to know and learn. The “Lakbay-Aral” was indeed informative.

Last February, the IQA team conducted its second visit to LHIO Eastern Pangasinan and by this time we were more confident because we knew that there were a lot of improvements done. The implementation of the QMS or the PSHIMS in LHIO Eastern Pangasinan pushed us to become more responsible and more productive employees. Last July 13, 2016, the IQA team had its final visit and we are waiting for the Third Party Auditors to conduct an audit. We discovered that now, we are no longer afraid to push ourselves to grow in new and different ways if it meant being able to respond better to the needs of our clients and to be at the forefront of the development field. The implementation of a QMS afforded us the opportunity to look at our practices in totality, and to set a standard of excellence for our core services. (END) (Lovelle T. Valenzuela, LHIO-Eastern Pangasinan, PRO1)