World Health Organization (WHO), together with the National Patient Navigation and Referral Center (NPNRC) and several bureaus of DOH – Disease Prevention and Control Bureau (DPCB), Knowledge Management and Information Technology Service (KMITS), Health Human Resource Development Bureau (HHRDB), and Health Emergency Management Bureau (HEMB) facilitated the “Writeshop on the Development of the Regional Patient Navigation and Referral Unit Manual of Procedures and Regional Patient Navigation and Referral System Scorecard” on April 11–14, 2023 in Baguio City.
Participants of the said activity were representatives from Baguio City Health Services Office (BCHSO), Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC), DOH-CHD-CAR’s Regulations, Licensing and Enforcement Division (RLED) and Health Emergency Management (HEM) Unit, Provincial DOH Offices, Patient Navigation and Referral Units of Regions I and II, and Association of Municipal Health Officers of the Philippines (AMHOP).
HEMB Director IV Bernadette Pua Velasco described the vision of an effective patient navigation and referral system as timely and integrated.
“We want to refer efficiently to yung mga pasyente natin. Efficient, meaning timely yung pagbibigay natin, nakakapagbigay tayo ng pre-arrival instructions […] Gusto rin natin mangyari na integrated lahat ng mga systems so that it will be easier for us to refer. So, all systems will be talking to each other so tayo ay nagfo-follow up na lang ng referral if it is accepted or not. And, inside the hospital there should also be an efficient system wherein different services will be talking in one system, so that when we refer patients to them, na nagre-reflect doon sa integrated system, they can immediately say if accepted or not,” she said.
With the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) identified as a pilot implementation site, the workshop aims to establish a unified system in the Region on their navigation and referral processes where health services from municipal, provincial, regional, including inter-provincial and inter-regional level of care can be provided efficiently by ensuring continuum of care.
The gaps and issues to be identified and determined solutions will also serve as their reference in crafting a localized Manual of Procedures or technical guidelines on their referral system. By DOH-CAR
