“Long-Standing Hospital Faces Changes

Due to Regulation”
By: Ben Cresenciano T. Non IV

Background
Doctor Arturo P. Pingoy Medical Center, formerly known as The Doctor’s Clinic
and Hospital, Inc., is a 100-bed capacity Hospital duly licensed by the Department of
Health and is accredited by the Philippine Health Insurance Company.
The hospital was established by spouses Arturo P. Pingoy, MD and Amparo Y.
Pingoy in May 12, 1961. It started as a small clinic and continued to grow to what it is
now, a level II Hospital offering state of the art medical equipment offering services that
the founders had envisioned.

History of the Establishment

The hospital was established by spouses Arturo P. Pingoy, MD and Amparo Y.
Pingoy, MD in May 12, 1961.

In 1971, four private air-conditioned rooms were put up followed by the

construction of a two-storey building that housed 8 private rooms and 4 suite rooms in
1974.
In 1998, the hospital’s bed capacity was further expanded to 50 with the
construction of 40 private rooms.

2005, the hospital upgraded to tertiary level hospital along with the construction
of the Administrative building which made it a 100-bed.

In May 2012, construction of new building started. The expansion made the
hospital the premier and largest hospital in the province with its 3-storey building. It
houses patients’ rooms, doctors’ clinics and commercial spaces.

The hospital was granted by Phil health as Center of Safety and Center of Quality.
In June 2013, the hospital opened its TB Lab for Multi-Drug Resistant TB for
Region XII. The Regional TB Lab project was made possible in coordination with the
Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), National Tuberculosis Reference
Laboratory (NTRL) and The Global Fund Philippines.

In September 2013, The Doctors’ Clinic and Hospital, Incorporated was certified
by TUVRheinland as ISO 9001:2008 (Quality Management System).
 January 2015, The Doctors’ Clinic and Hospital Incorporated changed its trade
name to Dr. Arturo P. Pingoy Medical Center in honor of one of its founders.

April 2017, Dr. Arturo P. Pingoy Medical Center was recertified by the
TUVRheinland as 9001:2015, the Updated Version of Quality Management System and
Certified to 14001:2015 Environmental Quality Management System.

Plans for the Future

As of 2016, the new building of Doctor Arturo P. Pingoy Medical Center has been
operational and has employed a wide variety of departments to cater to the patient’s
needs, and with the currently growing population DAPPMC, has started to renovate its
old building to cater and accommodate more patients, after the planned renovation it is
expected that the bed capacity of the establishment would reach 130.

With the growth of the patient’s population, the growth of demand from the
patients has also increased. With the current increase in population the demand for
medicine has increased, and with the PhilHealth’s changes in Policy which stated that
they will no longer cover any expenses to medicine which are not included in the PNDF
or the Philippine National Drug Formulary, and that Hospital Pharmacies must no longer
house or stock Non-PNDF drugs.

With these changes in the PhilHealth’s policy, the Establishment Invested in the
Hospital Outpatient Pharmacy, MedExpress, which would house the Non-PNDF drugs
instead of the main Hospital Pharmacy, with the partnership between the establishment
and the MedExpress, the loss of Non-PNDF drugs would not affect the pharmacy sales.

Strength of the Plan

With MedExpress being a part of the network of the establishment, losses

caused by the changes in the policy would not be greater than is to be expected in the
sudden change, as it would House Non-PNDF drugs, also drugs which is not available
at the main Hospital Pharmacy, gaining the profit that is loss.

Weakness of the Plan

MedExpress only operates 5 days a week with a working hour only between 8am
to 8pm, which means that there is a significant loss of sales during the times when
MedExpress is not operational. This loss is significant to the Hospital as they can no
longer house any Non-PNDF drugs.
Opportunities to Improve

As MedExpress Handles the Non-PNDF part of the products, the establishment

should collaborate with the administrators of MedExpress, to allow a 24/7 working hour
to prevent any losses in profit due to the MedExpress not being open, as this would lead
to a higher income to the Hospital and to decrease losses of transactions in both
outpatient and inpatient departments.

Threats to the Plan

As a new Policy of PhilHealth is being implemented wherein it states that Doctors

should no longer Prescribe Non-PNDF drugs is a threat not only to the Establishment
but the whole Pharmacy Practice, as the main role of the Pharmacists is to dispense
drugs. This new policy will become a threat not only to the Pharmacists, but also to the
Physicians, and also the patients, as some drugs that are beneficial to the patient is
currently not included in the PNDF.

Summary

Having an outsourced pharmacy that can stock medicine that are not available in
the main hospital pharmacy would benefit the company as it would lessen the profit loss
due to them being Non-PNDF and being unavailable at the main hospital pharmacy. As
the PhilHealth’s policies are changing so will the nature of Hospital Pharmacies as they
would try to comply with those changes, and establishing MedExpress as its outsource
pharmacy would help in fully serving the patients as envisioned by the founders.