PCSO Guarantee Letter Requirements for Cancer Medicines

What the PCSO Medical Assistance Program covers

PCSO describes its Medical Assistance Program (MAP) as financial help for people with health problems. It works with government and private hospitals, health facilities, medicine retailers and other partners. Older guides, including the Philippine Cancer Society's assistance page, still call it IMAP, the Individual Medical Assistance Program. PCSO's own pages now use the name MAP.

The help comes as a guarantee letter, not cash. The letter is for one patient and is addressed to a hospital, partner health facility or medicine retailer. You bring the letter to that facility, and it gives you the medicine or service.

The MAP page lists several kinds of help. Cancer treatment, which covers chemotherapy drugs and immunotherapy, is one of them. Each kind has its own extra documents on top of the basic requirements.

• Cancer treatment: chemotherapy drugs and immunotherapy
• Radiation therapy
• Specialty medicines
• Confinement (hospital bills)
• Laboratory, diagnostic and imaging tests such as CT scan, MRI, PET scan and biopsy
• Dialysis and erythropoietin injections, implants and medical devices, rehabilitation therapy, and some procedures for catastrophic illnesses

Documents usually asked for chemotherapy and immunotherapy medicines

PCSO's MAP page has two lists: documents everyone submits, and extra documents for cancer medicines. The medical documents must show the attending physician's full name, signature and license number. The clinical abstract must be recent, issued within the past three months.

The quotation rule matters a lot for medicine requests. If the hospital has the medicine and is willing to accept the GL, one quotation from that hospital is enough. If the hospital does not have it, PCSO asks for official quotations from three different suppliers. The MAP page says quotations must be signed by the partner health facility's representative.

Ask your hospital's social worker how PhilHealth and any other benefits you have fit with your request. The MAP page's note about not needing a PhilHealth deduction applies to certain hospital confinement cases, not to medicine requests.

• Completely filled-out MAP application form
• Valid ID of the patient: a government-issued ID, or other IDs PCSO accepts, such as a Medical Social Service ID, a school ID for minors, a barangay certification for minors not in school, or a birth certificate for children up to 5 years old
• Valid ID of the patient's next of kin, if someone applies for the patient
• Updated original or certified true copy of the clinical or medical abstract (or discharge summary), issued within the past three months
• Updated original prescription
• Updated original or certified true copy of the treatment protocol
• One quotation from the hospital that will accept the GL, or official quotations from three different suppliers if the hospital does not have the medicine

How to apply online, step by step

PCSO's online system is called the Online MAP Application. You reach it from pcso.gov.ph under E-Services, or directly at onlinemap.pcso.gov.ph. You need a working email address. When you log in, the system sends a one-time password (OTP); the login page lets you choose to get it by mobile or by email.

Scan every document before you start. PCSO asks for PDF files of not more than 2 MB each. Clear, readable scans help avoid a returned application. Online applications also have a daily limit, and once it is reached the system shows a message that it has reached its limit.

• Create an account: go to pcso.gov.ph, choose E-Services, then Online MAP Application, then Create an Account. Open the validation email from PCSO and confirm your registration.
• Log in with your first name, last name, date of birth and email, then enter the OTP that PCSO sends you.
• Click Application or Apply Now. Type and select the partner health facility, choose its city or municipality and the nature of your request, then click Get Queuing Number.
• When a queuing number appears, upload all the required documents as PDF files (2 MB or less each) and click Submit Application.
• Wait for the result by email, or check your application status in the portal.

Applying by email or through a PCSO branch

For Metro Manila (NCR), PCSO's MAP page also gives an email route. Download and fill out the MAP application form. Scan it together with all your documents and send everything to ncrmap@pcso.gov.ph. Type the address carefully and avoid look-alike websites. The official site ends in pcso.gov.ph.

Outside Metro Manila, PCSO has branch offices in the provinces. Their addresses, phone numbers and email addresses are on pcso.gov.ph under About, then PCSO Directories. The directory is grouped into the Main Office, Metro Manila Extension Offices, and the Northern and Central Luzon, Southern Tagalog and Bicol, Visayas and Mindanao departments. Call or email your provincial branch first to ask how they are taking applications now.

Your hospital's Medical Social Service office can also help you prepare your papers. The Philippine Cancer Society says it refers patients in need to PCSO. Its page also lists hospital PCSO help desks, but parts of that page look out of date, so call ahead before you go.

How long it usually takes

PCSO does not publish a fixed processing time for a cancer medicine GL. Its MAP page says NCR applications open at 8:00 in the morning, Monday to Sunday except holidays, and close once the day's allowed number of cases is reached. If your application does not go through, you can apply again on the next working day. That is why many families apply as early in the day as they can.

After you submit, PCSO sends the result to your email, and you can also check your status in the online portal. How long a case takes depends on the region, the type of request and whether your documents are complete. Ask your PCSO branch or your hospital's social worker how long cases like yours usually take.

PCSO's MAP page does not state how long a GL stays valid. Read the dates printed on your letter, and ask the hospital or supplier how soon you need to bring it in.

Using the guarantee letter at the hospital or medicine supplier

Once your GL is approved, print it together with the MAP Assessment Form. Bring both, along with your complete documents, to the hospital, partner health facility or medicine retailer named on the GL. The facility checks the papers and releases the medicine or service. Use the same prescription and the medicine named in your quotation, and ask PCSO before changing supplier or medicine, because a change may need a new request.

PCSO publishes a List of Medicine Providers Accepting PCSO Guarantee Letter Nationwide under E-Services on pcso.gov.ph. The file posted there is dated 2023, so it may not include every current partner. Before you ask a supplier for a quotation, ask whether it accepts PCSO guarantee letters.

2MG Inc. is an FDA-licensed importer, distributor and wholesaler of oncology and hematology medicines, and an accredited provider for PCSO guarantee letters. If your hospital does not have the medicine, 2MG can give you an official price quotation for your application, which counts as one of the three PCSO asks for. A pharmacist checks every prescription. For prices, see our price list, or contact us for a quotation.