Health Insurance Capitation scheme to be extended to three regions
The National Health Insurance Capitation pilot scheme is to be extended from the Ashanti Region to other regions of the country by April this year. The regions are Volta, Upper East and Upper West.
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This followed the attainment of a 96.6 per cent success rate of the pilot scheme in the Ashanti Region.
A research conducted by the Community Partnership for Health and Development in 2013, funded by the World Bank, established a successful pilot of the capitation scheme in the Ashanti Region, and called for the extension of the pilot scheme to other parts of the country.
Aside the research funded by the World Bank, there had been several independent assessments conducted by various bodies to evaluate the success of the project.
The Director of Capitation and Special Projects at the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Mr Anthony Gingong, attributed the success to effective planning, monitoring and supervision by the staff.
To ensure that the implementation in the three other regions in April does not encounter major challenges, a three-day workshop has been organised for 85 NHIS Regional Directors from the Volta, Upper East and Upper West regions and District Public Relation Officers, Regional Senior Monitoring and Evaluation Officers and Scheme Managers from the districts in the three regions.
The workshop was aimed at discussing communication strategies to be adopted before and during the implementation of the scheme in the three regions in April this year.
This would help reduce the implementation challenges encountered by the scheme in the Ashanti Region.
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Among the measures that have been put in place to ensure that the capitation is implemented successfully in the three regions include the formation of district implementation committees to assist in the smooth coordination of the scheme.
Capitation, which is described as one of the most effective and efficient payment systems, was introduced in the country in 2010 and implemented in 2012 but the scheme encountered some initial challenges.
Mr Gingong said everything was being done to prevent the recurrence of the challenges so that the people would accept capitation in the three regions to improve healthcare delivery in the country.
Collaboration
He hinted that the scheme was currently collaborating with all stakeholders including Health Insurance Service Providers Association of Ghana (HISPAG) for effective communication with all stakeholders for smooth implementation in the three regions.
The Director for Capitation and Special Projects appealed to the staff and management of the scheme to strive to ensure effective and successful operation of the scheme in the three regions so that it could be extended to other regions of the country to promote quality health care in the country.
The Public Relations Officer for Krachie West, Mr Linus Tozar Lebantah, appealed for the provision of logistics to all districts, especially those in the deprived areas, to ensure the smooth running of the capitation scheme.