Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) has announced a new leader.

Earlier today (February 4, 2025), Dr. Edwin M. Mercado, an Orthopedic Surgeon, was sworn into office as the new President and Chief Executive Officer of PhilHealth by President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. He succeeds Emmanuel R. Ledesma, Jr.

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(Photo from the Presidential Communications Office)

Dr. Mercado is experienced in health facility management, as he served as Vice Chairman of the Mercado General Hospital / Qualimed Health network since March 2021. He obtained his medical degree from the University of the Philippines in 1987 and completed his Master's Degree in Medical Sciences in Global Health Delivery from Harvard Medical School in 2023.

Dr. Mercado also earned his Executive Master's in Healthcare Administration from the University of North Carolina in the United States.

Under the mentorship of Dr. Chunling Lu, program director at Global Health Economics and Social Change, Division of Global Health Equity, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Department of Social Medicine and Global Health at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Mercado has been studying the value of per-member payment for global coverage of inpatient services since July 2023. He is also involved in research using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to assist community health workers in primary care delivery.

Meanwhile, PhilHealth publicly announced their pleasure at Dr. Mercado's appointment and pledged their full support for the agency's new leader.

"With Dr. Mercado's solid experience in the medical field and proven leadership and management expertise, we are confident that through his leadership, PhilHealth will continue to successfully carry out the mandate of the National Health Insurance Program and fulfill the aspirations of Universal Health Care for the benefit of all 115 million Filipinos," PhilHealth stated.

PhilHealth also expressed gratitude to outgoing PhilHealth Chief Ledesma, who led important reforms in the agency over the last two years, specifically those related to claim payments and improvements to benefit packages.
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(Photo of PhilHealth)

The latest benefit enhancements at PhilHealth include:
• Ischemic Heart Disease-Acute Myocardial Infarction with four packages: (1) Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) or coronary angioplasty, now covering P524,000 up from P30,300, a more than 1,600% increase; (2) Fibrinolysis now covering P133,500 up from P30,290, a 900% increase; (3) Emergency Medical Services with Coordinated Referral and Interfacility Transfer covering P21,900; and (4) Cardiac Rehabilitation after PCI at P66,140.

• Z Package for Peritoneal Dialysis (PD) now covers Continuous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis (CAPD) for the elderly while CAPD and Automated Peritoneal Dialysis are covered for young patients. For the elderly, the PD Z Benefits are P389,640 and P510,140 depending on the amount of PD solutions needed by the patient per day. This represents an 89% increase from P270, 000 per year. For young patients under CAPD, PD Z Benefits are set at P510,000 and P765,210 while coverage for APD ranges from P763,000 to P1.2 million. PhilHealth also covers exit site infection and peritonitis prevention care.

• The Z Package for Kidney Transplantation covering Living Organ Donor Transplantation has been increased to over Php1 million from the previous P600,000, a 74% increase. Deceased Organ Donor Transplantation is now covered by PhilHealth at Php2.14 million.