MEMBERS of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) who have questions on membership or benefits may now call the 24/7 hotline, (02) 441-7442 to get answers to their questions immediately.

The PhilHealth Call Center started operating round-the-clock last August 8 to address stakeholder concerns, especially those needing immediate responses. The 24/7 operation is supported by Pilipinas Teleserv, Inc., one of the country’s leading call centers handling major government accounts.

“We proposed the partial outsourcing of our Corporate Action Center (CAC) in a bid to truly respond to the numerous questions, suggestions, complaints and recommendations of our members and other partners in the National Health Insurance Program,” said Delio A. Aseron II, Head of the PhilHealth CAC.

He emphasized that the outsourcing project, which was procured through public bidding, is a major step towards boosting initiatives to enhance responsiveness in government service. “We see this move as particularly helpful to our overseas Filipino worker-members who may have PhilHealth concerns while working abroad,” he said.

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At present, Pilipinas Teleserv Inc. has deployed 20 call center agents to handle simple, structured questions ranging from status of benefit claim reimbursement to PhilHealth identification number concerns and the basics of membership registration, among others. These agents also handle inquiries through such channels as electronic mail and short messaging system (SMS). On the other hand, the CAC has nine (9) call center agents who handle complex and complicated questions and concerns needing further coordination with program offices, regional, local or branch offices.

At any given day, the CAC averages 2,000 inquiries received through the hotline. With the expanded operating hours and resource complement, the number of dropped calls is expected to go down from 50 percent to 10 percent.

Other feedback channels being managed by the CAC include the official Facebook and Twitter accounts, SMS, e-mails and walk-in visitors at its office in Pasig City. The CAC also handles client concerns received through Hotline 8888, the Civil Service Commission’s Contact Center ng Bayan, Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, and referrals from Malacanang and media partners.

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For now, members calling the hotline from outside the Philippines, from the regions or provinces will bear the cost of overseas or long-distance fees but the CAC is looking at procuring a toll-free access line for this purpose soon. (END) (Photos by Jose Mari Sanvicente)