Philippines

Healthcare System

The Universal Health Care Act (Republic Act 11223, 2019) mandates automatic PhilHealth membership for all Filipinos. PhilHealth (Philippine Health Insurance Corporation) provides inpatient case rates and outpatient benefits. The Department of Health (DOH) operates public hospitals and primary care facilities. Medical tourism is significant with internationally accredited private hospitals.

System Type: Universal Health Coverage (transitional) — PhilHealth public insurance + DOH public hospitals + private sector
Regulatory Body: FDA Philippines (Food and Drug Administration of the Philippines, RA 9711) — drug, device, cosmetics regulator. Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) — controlled substances policy.
Data Protection: Data Privacy Act of 2012 (Republic Act 10173); National Privacy Commission
Currency: PHP
Emergency Number: 911
Languages: fil, en

Coding Systems

diagnosis

ICD-10 (WHO)

ICD-10 WHO edition used for hospital coding and PhilHealth claims. No separate Philippine modification; standard WHO codes apply.

dental

FDI (ISO 3950)

FDI two-digit notation standard. Philippine Dental Association (PDA) uses FDI. No separate Philippine dental code set.

procedures

PhilHealth case rates

PhilHealth uses all-case rates (ACR) and Z-benefit case rates for specific catastrophic illnesses (Z-TB, Z-PTCA, Z-dialysis, etc.). ICD-10 diagnosis codes trigger benefit categories.

drugs

FDA-PH registration

Philippine FDA (RA 9711) assigns a Certificate of Product Registration (CPR) to each drug. PNDF (Philippine National Drug Formulary) lists essential medicines. No DIN/NDC equivalent.

Translation Corridors

PH→AE/SA/QA (OFW records for Gulf employer insurance — most critical corridor) PH→US (Filipino-Americans with Philippine medical history) PH→CA (Filipino nurses and healthcare workers) PH→JP (Filipino workers in Japan) PH→IT (Filipino domestic workers) PH→AU (Filipino health professionals)

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