The chairman of the House Committee on Health has filed a bill that seeks to institutionalize the One Hospital Command Center (OHCC) and strengthen the country’s national patient navigation and referral system.
Quezon Rep. Angelina Tan, M.D., panel chairman, said her House Bill 9633 aims to strengthen the provision of health-care delivery system.
Tan said the bill also seeks to institutionalize and broaden the scope of the One Hospital Command System through the establishment of the National Patient Navigation and Referral System (NPNRS) to navigate patients through different levels of the health system.
She said the move will strengthen and expand the existing OHCC by establishing a National Patient Navigation and Referral Center (NPNRC) that will provide a link with the Malasakit Centers across different health facilities to ensure financial risk protection, particularly for the indigent and financially incapacitated patients.
“The NPNRS is designed to support, strengthen, and facilitate the provision of health services of primary care providers acting as the navigator, coordinator, and initial and continuing point of contact in the health care delivery system pursuant to Republic Act 11223 or Universal Health Care Act. This important legislation serves as a complementary measure to the UHC law,” Tan said.
Health Undersecretary and Covid-19 treatment czar Leopoldo Vega earlier said that the OHCC should serve as a “coordinated referral for all” nationwide as the country continue to grapple with the pandemic.
The Department of Health (DOH) and the Inter-agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), in coordination with other government agencies, officially launched the OHCC in Makati City in 2020.
According to Tan, the One Hospital Command currently serves to facilitate a comprehensive and coordinated response to the Covid-19 pandemic by ensuring effective and efficient health facility referral in Metro Manila to reduce the waiting time of patients by referring them to the appropriate health facility that could best provide for the level of care they require.
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