Politico-economic analysis of public-private partnerships in healthcare delivery: the case of Rizal Medical Center and Makati Medical Center.

Abstract

In 2012, the Aquino administration launched the health modernization program, a scheme to place various tertiary level hospitals and specialized centers under Public-Private Partnerships (PPP). PPPs are endorsed by the World Bank as beneficial to both stimulating the economy, allocating risks, and improving government services particularly on health. However, criticisms on PPPs include financial equity as services will then be more expensive in exchange for the delivered efficiency brought about by private sector involvement. Due to the variety and diversity of PPP programs, Swertvaegher (2015) recommends researching on individual case studies of PPP projects to understand PPPs in the Philippines better in an inductive manner. To study the phenomenon of PPPs in healthcare, Rizal Medical Center (RMC) and Makati Medical Center’s (MMC) PPP which was enacted in 2012 was chosen as a case study to evaluate the effects of PPPs in healthcare delivery in the country. The RMC-MMC partnership is a first of its kind partnership where soft resources and technical skills were shared by MMC to RMC throughout the capacity building partnership. Giusti's (2000) formula, the Standard Unit of Output, was used to assess the improvement in efficiency in the healthcare delivery of RMC. Results show that there was an improvement in hospital efficiency as brought about by the increase in output. Although several lapses and issues in the hospital efficiency indicators were still seen to be present despite the partnership’s attempt to address these matters. Further in-depth studies on the hospital unit efficiency is recommended as well as individual case studies on other hospitals who have engaged in PPPs.