NHIA to Roll Out E-Payment System to Stamp Out Corruption

The National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) is set to roll out a new electronic transaction system for payments and release of claims by all stakeholders to boost operations.

The move was  an integral part of a comprehensive policy initiative by the authority to effectively ease the processes of payments, reduce manual manipulations and ultimately reduce the level of corruption associated with claims.

Dr Samuel Annor, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), disclosed this at a stakeholder’s meeting with members of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in Cape Coast on Tuesday.

The meeting was to solicit views on sustainable means of supporting the scheme.

The e-payment system is also to help address customer challenges and inconsistencies associated with the current manual system and served as a way of blocking leakages in revenue collection.

Dr Annor explained that, the e-payment system would be implemented after the introduction of Ghana Card which sought to embolden a cashless economy.

“We are working at reforming NHIS provider’s payments, claims submission and e-processing systems to ensure simpler and faster processes with the soon to be introduced Ghana Card with computerisation and investment into the scheme to ensure its sustainability” he said

Mr Annor said his outfit was working tirelessly to restore integrity in the scheme while introducing more innovative and pragmatic polices to promote and provide affordable healthcare to all.

The NHIA Boss stressed that it was imperative for the nation to give priority to healthcare delivery in order to save lives, noting that poor quality healthcare could lead to loss of avoidable lives in the country.

He contended that since the introduction of the NHIS, life expectancy of Ghanaians had increased from 57 years to 63 years per every 100, 000 lives in less than two decades, which signified the correlation between good healthcare delivery and life expectancy.

Dr Annor highlighted the current financing models of the scheme, saying a more efficient and sustainable approach ought to be adopted to enable the scheme to function effectively.

According to him, the 2.5 per cent of the Value Added Tax and 2.5 per cent of the contribution from the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), which amounted to S30 dollars for each person per year, allocated to the Scheme was woefully inadequate.

In that regard, Dr Annor called on the government to increase the percentages from the current 2.5 to at least 3.5 percent and also explore ways of investing oil revenue to significantly sustain its financial viability.

He called on stakeholders in the health sector and the general public to collectively work to sustain the NHIS to improve the healthcare delivery system in the country.

Dr Anthony Yaw Baah, the Secretary General of the TUC rallied collective efforts from all stakeholders, particularly the workers union to enable the proposed measures by the NHIA to succeed to improve healthcare delivery.

Source: GNA