The National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) has for the first two months of 2020, paid more than ¢91 million to credentialed service providers to enable them to continue to give healthcare care seekers the required attention.
A total of 4,292 service providers, who submitted their claims vouchers on time benefited, a statement from the Directorate of the NHIA Corporate Affairs Department said.
The service providers are made up of 2,993 public health facilities, 1,038 private health facilities, 228 Mission health facilities and 33 quasi-Government health facilities.
The public health facilities, according to the statement, received GH¢49,845,207.91, representing 69.7 per cent of the payments; while the private service providers received GH¢26,033,139.75, which is 28.3 per cent.
Mission health facilities (CHAG) also received GH¢15,173,008.28 representing 16.5 per cent; whereas Quasi-Government service providers received GH¢846,565.84, which forms 0.9 per cent of the total payments made so far.
The statement said last year, GH¢857 million was paid as claims to service providers, adding that, beneficiaries now received their reimbursements in an average of six months in arrears; instead of the usual over 12 months.
The four NHIA Claims Processing Centres across the country, it said, had put in place more efficient measures to speed up the vetting and payment process to ensure that NHIS members received quality healthcare.
The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) was set up by government in 2003 (with ACT 650) to provide financial risk protection against the cost of basic health care for all residents in Ghana. In 2012, the Scheme was reviewed with ACT 852.
Since its introduction, it has over the years grown to become a major instrument for financing health care delivery in Ghana.
“It is the financial mainstay of more than 4,600 credentialed healthcare service providers, accounting for more than 85 per cent of funds that flow into healthcare facilities to treat NHIS members,” it said.
“The Scheme is credited with improvements in the healthcare-seeking behaviour of many people in Ghana, who now tend to seek medical attention earlier than before, thereby avoiding unnecessary deterioration in their health conditions.
More people are visiting various NHIS credentialed health institutions across the country on account of the Scheme.”
“In fact, the NHIS in November 2019, recorded the highest active membership since its inception and is still growing,” the statement said.
