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NHIA’S digital revolution on track
The National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) transition towards a paperless system is on track in line with the national digitization drive.
Mobile Renewal platform, Claim-it, Electronic cash payments and online Credentialing are the latest innovations gaining grounds.
Mobile Renewal platform
A greater number of National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) members are switching to the Mobile Renewal Service platform to renew their membership.
All NHIS members are required to dial a dedicated short code, *929# on their mobile phones and paying from their mobile money wallets to stay active.
The Mobile Renewal Service platform offers ease and convenience to members and also gives them the opportunity to provide feedback on their attendance to the NHIA credentialed service providers.
At the end of July 2020, the cumulative (January 2019 to July 2020) number of mobile renewals was 9,154,747. Total number of mobile renewals for the month of July 2020 was 573,359 representing an increase of 19% over 482,314 mobile renewals in the month of June 2020.
Claim-it System
Claims management is a critical contributor to the success of the NHIS for which reason an efficient system has been put in place to restrict fraudulent activities and correct blunders resulting in submission of escalated claims.
Evidence suggests the electronic system is able to make adjustments of about 17% to claims submissions to the Claims Processing Centres (CPC’s).
Claims submitted via Claim-it are currently vetted at the Claims Processing Centre (CPCs) in Accra, Kumasi, Tamale and Cape Coast.
Since its introduction, all 4,600 NHIS credentialed healthcare facilities on the software have seen improvements in claims generation and submission, and claims Managers in the Authority have also realized improved vetting processes as well.
Electronic Receipt
Proven to be the most effective mechanism in preventing corruption, Electronic-Receipting of cash was introduced to enhance social auditing and accountability.
This has created room for on-site premium banking making it possible for electronic teller systems to be installed in most NHIS district offices where all cash transactions are routed through bank tellers who issue and save electronic copies of transaction receipts.
The risk of cash handling has been reduced. It has substantially promoted electronic reconciliation on financial account and promoted transparency and efficiency in the NHIS operations. This system tracks payments to streamline the operations of the NHIS and make it more attractive.
Online Credentialing
Over the years, the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) has received several credentialing applications with attached documents manually from Healthcare providers.
Ending February (2020), the NHIA introduced an online application system on its official Web Portal making it possible for Service Providers and prospective applicants to submit their forms electronically.
Since its introduction in 2020, there has been a significant increase in the volume of documents as the Authority has so far received over 1,000 applications from its service providers across the country.
The paperless regime was introduced to improve data storage and electronic communication between Executive Management and the Service Providers.
Source: Abdul Karim Naatogmah
