By Godfred A. Polkuu
Bolgatanga, March 11, GNA – The National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) in the Upper East Region has commended the Builsa North Municipal Assembly for constructing an office for the Authority in the area.
The Assembly, through the leadership of Madam Vida Akantagriwen Anaab, the Municipal Chief Executive, constructed a new office edifice, which is yet to be handed over to the NHIA in the Municipality.
Hitherto, the Authority has been operating from a rented office.
Mr Kasimu Abudulai, the Acting Regional Director of the NHIA, who gave the commendation on behalf of Management and staff of the Authority, said, “We are grateful for this gesture. Conspicuously outstanding is the Bongo District Office, which needs urgent attention.”
Mr Abudulai also commended the Municipal Chief Executive and the former Municipal Coordinating Director, Mr Aminu Mohammed Baba, at the Authority’s 2022 annual performance review meeting in Bolgatanga.
The review meeting was on the theme: “The role of digitization in modern healthcare delivery, introducing MyNHIS App.”
The Acting Director noted that accommodation was a major challenge for the Authority even though it was gradually being resolved.
“The Authority has new office buildings for the Bawku West, Pusiga and Tempane Districts.”
He said the Kassena-Nankana and Bolgatanga Municipal offices were in deplorable state and needed urgent renovation.
The Acting Director said the Authority rolled out a project dubbed ‘1000 Kids for Health’ which was successfully piloted in the Ashanti Region and subsequently rolled out across the country and was implemented in the Region in November 2022.
He said the project sought to increase National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) active membership through the collaboration, support and contributions of well-meaning individuals and institutions within the respective Districts.
Mr Abudulai said after six months of operationalizing reviewed tariffs and medicines list, the Authority took cognizance of the persistent inflation in the country and further reviewed prices of medicines and service tariffs upwards.
“Service tariffs were increased by 10 per cent, while prices of medicines were increased by 80 per cent for framework medicines and 20 per cent for non-frame medicines on the NHIS medicine list.
“This provides adequate cover for all services provided under the NHIS Benefits Package, and we hope that all credentialed healthcare providers will desist from the practice of ‘top up’ charges meted out to our clients by reason of low prices as compared to market prices,” the Acting Director said.
Mr Isaac Akonde, the Deputy Director of Claims, at the Claims Processing Centre in Tamale, said the Authority operated with several private service providers in the Upper East Region and across the country.
He said even though the Authority had good relationship with the private sector, which was a major service provider, especially in hard-to-reach areas, some of the service providers engaged in some activities that had implications on the sustainability of the NHIS.
He said private facilities were profit-making entities, and some of them might be engaged in activities to maximise their profits instead of the sustainability of the Scheme and services they rendered to members of the NHIA.
Mr Akonde said the Authority monitored the data trend analysis of all providers that submitted claims to the Centre, “And if we find out that any provider is an outlier the NHIA will have to zoom on to that provider site, try to understand their operations through clinical audits and claims verifications.”
That, he said, would ensure service providers complied with policies, directions and guidelines of the NHIA in terms of service provision and claims to the Authority.
GNA