Advanced Lab Solutions
It’s no surprise that this largest medical mall in the country has been known to provide a world-class experience for outpatient care. The high-ceiling lobby and hotel-grade concierge, coupled with high-speed elevators and generous parking spaces, speak volumes of the premier services offered within its halls.
Centuria Medical Makati, built around the vision of Century Properties chair and CEO Jose E.B. Antonio, is a 28-story, 500-clinic edifice standing across Century City Mall on Kalayaan Avenue corner Salamanca Street, Barangay Poblacion, Makati. Patients may choose from its roster of medical care providers, mostly market leaders in their expertise who work with the latest technology and equipment.
Top ophthalmologist
There’s the top ophthalmologist, Harvey Uy, who, a few years back, made headlines when he presented his study restoring the eyesight of 10 subjects plagued with the inherited eye disease, retinitis pigmentosa, through stem-cell therapy. Now with a team of eye specialists, Dr. Uy set up Peregrine Eye and Laser Institute at Centuria, bringing years of top-notch medical stints in leading institutions such as Harvard Medical School and Johns Hopkins University.
Another is the Asia Breast Center, the country’s first freestanding ambulatory cancer-care unit. Dedicated to the comprehensive treatment and management of breast diseases, the profit-for-charity center donates 50 percent of its earnings to foundations and institutions that help breast cancer patients who can’t afford treatment.
Headed by Dr. Norman San Agustin, the center applies the multidisciplinary approach in the management of breast cancer. One of its more advanced treatments of early-stage breast cancer is Intraoperative Radiation Therapy, a radiation therapy that targets only the precise area where the cancer is located. Molecular Breast Imaging is a new and powerful machine that detects breast cancer in patients with dense breasts, such as those of Filipinos.
For diagnostics and lab testing, Centuria has partnered with Advanced Lab Solutions by Hi-Precision. It offers early detection of hereditary cancer (Myriad myRisk Hereditary Cancer) and prenatal gender (Panorama Noninvasive Prenatal Screening). It has fully automated lab tests, ECG, X-ray, drug testing, 2D Echo and treadmill stress test, ultrasound, executive health package, home service and online results.
Affordable
The first-rate services and world-class amenities—the luxurious, elegant suites for overnight executive checkups—may look intimidating and über expensive, but Centuria is actually affordable.
“It does look very high-end, but only because our patients deserve the best. Our services are usually 40-60 percent cheaper than hospital rates. Consultation rates vary, depending on the doctor and center. HMO centers follow the standard negotiated rate of HMOs,” said Dr. Chelsea Elizabeth Samson, head of Medical Services, Centuria Medical Plaza.
Centuria has already partnered with the majority of local HMOs and some international HMOs. Its centers are accredited by ValuCare, UPI, TriCare, STAR, Calvo’s Select Care, PruLife UK, PhilCare, PhilAm Life, Pacific Cross, Optimum HealthCare, Medicare Plus, Intellicare, MedAsia, Maxicare, Lacson&Lacson, Kaiser Int’l, Insular Healthcare, HPPI, HMI, Health and Leisure, Generali Phils., FWD Insurance, FortuneCare, First Community Corp., Cocolife, Avega, Asian Life, Asian Care and Coop Health.
Asia Breast Center consultation with Dr. Norman San Agustin
Samson said that based on latest medical date, 70 percent of patients seen in hospitals can be managed in outpatient settings. Outpatient centers become popular worldwide for three reasons: cost, convenience and comprehensive services. Centuria added one more, concierge care, to ensure excellent patient experience. (For tertiary-level cases such as complicated disease conditions or communicable diseases requiring admissions, patients are referred to partner hospitals. Centuria also has a partnership with Lifeline Ambulance Rescue that can take patients to the nearest hospital if needed.)
Centuria Medical Makati, she said, is the largest and most comprehensive outpatient medical facility in the country today.
“We have all under one roof a premium laboratory and radiology center that is operated by Hi-Precision Diagnostics, a Mercury Drug outlet, a nine-theater OR complex at The Surgery Center, an Urgent Care Clinic, an Executive Screening Center and Executive Guest Suites,” she said.
By year-end, Centuria will be the first outpatient medical facility in the country to house a Positron Emission Tomography Scanner (PET). Combining it with CT technology, such as a PET-CT scan, it becomes a powerful imaging and diagnostic tool in detecting, evaluating, and monitoring most cancers with 90-95 percent accuracy.
There’s also, among others, Pinnacle Performance, a world-class athletic and physical development center; ProHealth Sports and Spinal Physiotherapy; Fuda Cancer Hospital with its main office in Guangzhou, China; an Urgent Care Clinic that provides treatment for primary level cases; an Executive Screening Center with wellness packages suitable for each patient group; a Surgery Center, a standalone outpatient surgical facility catering to the needs of specialties such as plastic reconstructive and aesthetic/cosmetic surgery, dermatology, ENT-HNS, OB-Gyne, ophthalmology, gastroenterology, orthopedics, and urology; among many others.
“We don’t limit our partners to the provision of diagnostic and therapeutic services. We have centers within the building that cover the scope of Health Informatics (EMR solutions), Site Management, Clinic Research, etc. As long as its involved in healthcare, it can make its home in Centuria,” Samson said.
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