PhilHealth

Starting February 14, Filipinos can breathe a little easier when it comes to emergency medical expenses. PhilHealth has officially rolled out its Facility-Based Emergency (FBE) benefit, which covers outpatient emergency cases in all accredited Level 1 to Level 3 hospitals.

This expanded coverage is part of the Outpatient Emergency Care Benefit (OECB) package, introduced through PhilHealth Circular 2024-0033 late last year. The good news? You don’t need to do anything special to access this benefit—just head to an accredited hospital, and PhilHealth takes care of the rest.

What About Ambulance Services?

While the Prehospital Emergency (PHE) benefit, which covers ambulance services, is also in the works, PhilHealth says they’ll announce more details about it at a later date. So for now, the focus is on emergency treatments once you arrive at the hospital.

A Reminder for Hospitals

Hospitals don’t need to apply for a separate accreditation to provide FBE benefits—it’s already included in their existing accreditation. However, if a hospital has extension facilities, they’ll need to submit a certification with the name and complete address of their affiliated extension to their PhilHealth Regional Office.

This update comes from PhilHealth Advisory No. 2025-0009, published on February 18, 2025.

With this new benefit in place, patients facing emergency medical situations now have one less thing to worry about. Stay tuned for further updates on ambulance coverage and other enhancements to PhilHealth’s benefits.