The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) in December 2009 that will enhance PhilHealth's identification of poor households who will be enrolled in the National Health Insurance Program (NHIP).

The agreement was signed by former DSWD Secretary Esperanza I. Cabral and PhilHealth President and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Rey B. Aquino.

Under the agreement, the DSWD and PhilHealth will share certain information from DSWD's Filipino database through its National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR).
The NHTS-PR is a data bank and an information management system that identifies who and where the poor are.  It reduces exclusion of poor and inclusion of non-poor in social protection programs.

The PhilHealth has been implementing the NHIP and has actively expanded the enrolment by local and national government of poor households into NHIP's Sponsored Program (NHIP-SP).

It was agreed that the PhilHealth will be allowed to access the data maintained under NHTS-PR. The PhilHealth will be given a "user name" and password that will be used to access data from NHTS-PR.

Accordingly, the PhilHealth will provide the DSWD with a complete list of their data requirements. The DSWD, on the other hand, shall provide technical assistance to PhilHealth, when necessary.

"This agreement will set as precedent for other organizations, agencies and groups to use the data generated by DSWD's NHTS-PR, thereby ensuring that government assistance will go to the most deserving," according to newly appointed DSWD Acting Secretary Celia Capadocia-Yangco." (DSWD- Social Marketing Service) February 8, 2010