Philippine Heart Center

PHC-IGG Commitment

OUR TRANSFORMATION PATHWAY

The Philippine Heart Center (PHC) is a Level 4 Government-owned and controlled corporate (GOCC) specialty hospital accredited by the Department of Health and other regulatory agencies. It is seated in a 2.7 hectare lot at the corner of East Avenue and Matalino Street, Diliman, Quezon City proximate to other Specialty hospitals. It is designed with 4 petals in each floor representing the 4 chambers of the heart (Figure 1). It has a 352- bed capacity specialty hospital and as of August 2014, with the following the breakdown : 9 Suites 67 Private rooms, 125 Semi-Private, 27 Pay Wards , 42 Service Ward ( 2 Adult Ward and 2 Children Wards), and 82 Critical Care beds in 5 ICUs. By the first quarter of 2016, out of the hospital's strategic initiative to expand both pay and service wards, it will have a newly constructed fifth level of the hospital building which will house additional 8 Suites , 26 Private, and 100 additional service beds in the 4th floor of Annex building. With continuous efforts focused towards excellence in organizational management, it is the only government hospital compliant with international healthcare standards, having been recognized with a GOLD award by Accreditation Canada International in August 2011, and in the Second Survey in August 2014.

Figure 1. Philippine Heart Center Core Competencies

The incidence of heart disease has remained the same for many years. The 2009 Department of Health data shows that 47.5% per 100,000 population die from heart attack, and another 25% die from hypertension or other forms of heart disease, is true even until this time - 5 years after. Even among children, heart disease is the 5th cause of mortality. As a cardiacreferral center in the country, it has 14,953 admissions per year, and 33,000 new patients by 2014. Fifty five percent (55%), however, come from the Greater Manila Area. The rest are from the different regions in the country who probably come to Manila for consultation for the following reasons:

Lack of equipment, specialized physicians in the provinces/ regions. Most physicians who come for training flock to the city because they are more likely to practice their profession where equipment is complete and CV care for other paramedics are likewise complete.
Lack of other specialists for cardiovascular care - trained Cardiovascular Surgeons and Cardiovascular Anaesthesiologists, Critical Care and Cardiovascular Nurses for Surgical Intensive Care units and Recovery Rooms, Perfusionists, Echocardiographers and Cardiac Interventionists. The whole complement of the team is important to carry on and sustain the task.
Lack of financial support to sustain cardiovascular surgeries, with reduced government subsidy. In the provinces, primary care is the focus of the Department of Health making critical CV cases flock to Manila . Support from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes is usually 20,000.00-50,000.00 pesos only while a heart operation will cost P200,000.00 for hospital costs.

With the start of the office of the Executive Director in 2011 and his Executive Committee, the vision of PHC top leadership to decentralize cardiovascular care then started. The Department of Health "Kalusugan Pangkalahatan" under then secretary Enrique Ona was also formalized and implemented with universal health care system redirection towards special cases. It was therefore part of the mandate to explore regionalization of health care. This came along with the Performance Governance System initiative of the Philippine Heart Center by 2012 after the Department of Health cascading of the "Kalusugan Pangkalahatan" Roadmap.

The Philippine Heart Center PGS Roadmap for Healthy Happy Hearts 2012-2021 was initiated in March 2013. Towards excellence in healthcare and financial viability, two hospital breakthrough goals were committed: Increase in number of new patients from 7,000 to 20,000 by December 2016, and increase in patient satisfaction from 87% to 97% by December 2016. The hospital governance process, however, will not be relevant without creating an impact towards the greater vision of decreasing mortality for Heart Attack (Coronary Artery Disease - CAD) in the country, aligning with the World Heart Federation goal of decreasing mortality from CV disease by 25% in 25 years. The IGG Breakthrough of the Philippine Heart Center to enhance Regional Hospitals to become Regional Heart Centers, therefore comes with the greater vision of increasing access to CV care in the country in tertiary prevention of heart disease.