The Call for Proposal for the “Assessment of the Impact of the Expansion of the Benefit Package for Hemodialysis to 156 Sessions on Clinical Outcomes and Quality of Life of Chronic Kidney Disease Patients” project is NOW OPEN.

Interested proponents may now submit their proposal through the PCHRD Project Management System (https://projects.pchrd.dost.gov.ph/index.php/pms-home) on or before August 9, 2024.

Background & Rationale

Pursuant to the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act, all health technologies that the government will implement and cover shall undergo health technology assessment (HTA) to ensure the rational utilization of various health technologies that will be funded by the government.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) established the guidelines for the expansion of the benefit coverage for outpatient hemodialysis (HD) from 90 sessions per patient per year (2 sessions per week) to a maximum of 144 sessions, for calendar year (CY) 2020 through the Philhealth Circular No. 2021-0002. The coverage expansion to 144 sessions for HD was extended for CY 2021 (Philhealth Circular No. 2021-0009) and CY 2022 (Philhealth Circular No. 2022-0017). This was followed by a further expansion and institutionalization of 156 hemodialysis sessions per year per patient, in order to fully cover the definition of adequate hemodialysis which is thrice-weekly sessions (PhilHealth Circular No. 2023-0009). As such, PhilHealth submitted renal replacement therapy for HTA, specifically to determine the impact of the expansion of the benefit coverage to important outcomes in chronic kidney disease patients on HD.

In this regard, this assessment intends to answer the policy question: “Among chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients undergoing maintenance HD (i.e., patients initiated on HD while waiting for kidney transplant (KT), patients shifting from peritoneal dialysis (PD) to HD, patients with KT rejection needing HD), should PhilHealth continue to cover 156 HD sessions per patient per year (i.e., thrice weekly HD sessions) until any of the following events take place: patient is scheduled to undergo KT; patient needs to shift from HD to PD; patient opts to stop HD; or patient dies?”

Specifically, this commissioned work shall be a substream of the overarching assessment of the HTA Philippines and is designed for the assessment of clinical outcomes (i.e., quality of life of patients and occurrence of serious adverse events and all-cause mortality) of patients during the implementation of the benefit coverage for 90, 144, and 156 HD sessions.
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For more information, please see the enclosed Terms of Reference at https://bit.ly/TOR_Hemodialysis2.

Should you have further inquiries or concerns, you may contact us through philhealthstudies@pchrd.dost.gov.ph.