MANILA, PHILIPPINES — InLife Benefits and The Medical City have officially signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to launch an insurer-led Chronic Disease Management Program (CDMP) for corporate accounts and their employees. The pioneering initiative marks a first-of-its-kind collaboration in the Philippine healthcare and insurance industry.
The strategic partnership combines InLife Benefits’ extensive corporate network and employee benefits expertise with The Medical City’s clinical infrastructure in chronic, preventive, and specialized care.
Transforming Corporate Healthcare in the Philippines
Under the agreement, InLife Benefits acts as the insurer partner—identifying corporate accounts and facilitating member engagement. The Medical City serves as the clinical partner—delivering medical expertise, dedicated care teams, clinical facilities, and patient care pathways to screen, manage, and monitor employees with chronic conditions or risk factors.
The program addresses a growing health challenge across the nation, where non-communicable and lifestyle-related diseases continue to strain Filipino families, employers, and healthcare infrastructure.
“About 1 in 3 Filipino adults has hypertension or roughly 16.8 million people, yet only around 1 in 5 has it under control. Almost 4 in 10 Filipino adults are overweight or obese, increasing the risk of diabetes, heart disease and other chronic conditions. The role of the insurer should not begin when somebody gets sick and end when we pay the claim. We need to help our members stay healthy, identify risks earlier, and help those who already have chronic diseases manage them better.”
— Maria Noemi G. Azura, President and CEO, InLife Benefits
Moving from Curative Care to Early Prevention
Traditional corporate health coverage often operates on a curative model—initiating intervention only after a medical condition advances or leads to emergency hospitalization. The Chronic Disease Management Program shifts this model toward proactive, continuous care.
Through systematic health risk assessments and risk stratification, corporate employees will be routed into customized care pathways based on their individual health profiles:
- Early Screening: Identifying non-communicable disease risk factors before symptoms manifest.
- Regular Disease Management: Providing ongoing care for conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia.
- Continuity of Care: Connecting patients seamlessly across clinics, outpatient facilities, and hospitals.
- Lifestyle & Medication Guidance: Empowering members with long-term monitoring and preventive habits.
“Through CDMP, we want to champion screening and prevention of Chronic Diseases by providing benefits to our employees and to our members even before catastrophic claims are necessary,” stated Dr. Isabel Umali, Deputy Medical Director of InLife Benefits.
Clinical Leadership and Sustainable Care
The Medical City will oversee the clinical execution of the program across its extensive hospital and clinic network, emphasizing long-term health outcomes over reactive treatments.
“We are going to continue to focus on preventive healthcare and lifestyle management. Even if patients are not feeling anything at the moment, it is important to monitor the disease, take the medication, and focus on lifestyle management. Once complications set in, it impacts the quality of life and the lifespan of the patient.”
— Dr. Ruben G. Kasala, Executive Vice President and CEO, The Medical City Ortigas
Dr. Mariann Almajar, Chief Medical Officer at The Medical City, emphasized the integrated care approach: “We want to make sure that we screen them early, manage them, so that we delay complications related to these diseases. As a network, we’ll be able to take care of the patients from the clinic to the hospital.”
Additionally, Racquel R. Cagurangan, Group Chief of Strategic Accounts and Patient Experience at The Medical City, noted that tracking long-term patient outcome data through the CDMP will help strengthen preventive care delivery and lay the foundation for a more predictive healthcare approach in the Philippines.
