THE Civil Service Commission (CSC) lauded the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) as the second to the top red tape-free agency among the ten government agencies that passed the CSC’s Anti-Red Tape Report Card Survey (RCS) for the year 2015.
The RCS is a client feedback survey used to check government service offices’ compliance with the provisions of the Anti-Red Tape Act (ARTA) of 2007. The 2015 RCS was conducted in all service offices of ten government agencies with heavy volume of frontline service transactions, based on the reports.
Among the 10 government agencies surveyed, PhilHealth, along with the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) and Social Security System(SSS) had a full passing rate with all of their service offices obtaining scores not lower than 70. GSIS had the highest percentage of Excellent offices at 80% (46 out of 57 offices), followed by PhilHealth at 66%, representing 88 out of 133 offices.
CSC Chairperson Alicia dela Rosa-Bala said that the CSC sees the results as both an achievement and a challenge, and will continuously work with government agencies so that all Filipinos can get the quality of service they deserve.
PhilHealth’s frontline service delivery, service quality, physical working condition, and overall client satisfaction were surveyed. Also checked were the Citizen’s Charter that contains detailed commitments on transaction steps, cost and time, implementation of anti-fixing measures, wearing of identification cards of frontline staff, absence of hidden transaction costs, presence of a manned public assistance/complaints desk, observance of the “No Noon Break” policy, availability of basic facilities such as comfort rooms, and special lane for persons with disabilities, pregnant women, and the elderly.
In 2014, 66 PhilHealth Offices nationwide were recognized by the CSC for having achieved “Excellent” ratings in the ARTA RCS. It was also in the same year when the ARTA Breakthrough Agency and Seal of Excellence Awards were conferred to PhilHealth.
The Seal of Excellence award is given by the CSC to government service offices that have demonstrated exemplary frontline service delivery. Recipients of the Seal of Excellence award must obtain an Excellent rating in the ARTA compliance, and should have no valid and unresolved ARTA-related complaints based on the Contact Center ng Bayan data.
On the other hand, the ARTA Breakthrough Agency Award is given to the top five (5) agencies ranked along with 32 other agencies based on two criteria: (1) Percent of surveyed offices from 2011-2013 which were awarded with the CSC Seal of Excellence (70%); and (2) Percent of surveyed offices passing the ARTA-RCS from 2011-2013 (30%).
“We are again very appreciative and thankful for the trust and recognition given by CSC. We believe that excellence is the hallmark of competence and achievement. With Team PhilHealth around, I have no doubt that we will continue to do good work in the next years and the cumulative results will become even more impressive. Impressing people is not what we’re about though. Rather, we are about changing lives. Everything else we do is so that we can change the lives of our members through fast and efficient frontline service,” said Alexander A. Padilla, PhilHealth’s President and Executive Officer.
(Emy Retuta)
