Private Health Facilities Association of Ghana (PHFAoG) has praised the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) for its increased effectiveness and efficiency in claims reimbursement.
The NHIA delays in claims reimbursement and perceived vetting discrepancies that were affecting health service delivery, now appear to be a thing of the past.
The PHFAoG president, Dr Samuel Buabeng-Frimpong, speaking at the maiden Annual General Meeting of the Association, said” in fact, NHIA has seriously improved over time in claims reimbursement, and this is impacting hugely on healthcare delivery in the country”.
The three-day meeting was on the theme: “Promoting quality healthcare in the midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic: the role of the private health facilities In Ghana”.
But, Dr Buabeng-Frimpong asked the NHIA “to go back to look at the outstanding claims, because there are lot of the facilities that are complaining about old claims from 2018,2019 and 2020 that have not been paid”.
“I am, therefore, appealing to the NHIA to address them immediately for us to understand that, as far as old claims are concerned, we are not owed”, he said.
He called on the government to address challenges facing the NHIA to improve health service delivery.
Dr Buabeng-Frimpong said the Association was able to ‘push for’ the review of the unjustified 7.5 per withholding tax deduction on drugs supplied to clients under the National Health Insurance Scheme, “as the current applicable rate stands at 3 per cent and 7.5 per cent for drugs and services respectively”.
He said PHFAoG influenced the relaxation of some laws and regulations that were inimical to the growth of the private health sector through the collaboration of the parliamentary select committee on health as well as worked closely with the NHIA to improve on the reimbursement system of the scheme.
Registrar of the Health Facilities Regulatory Agency (HeFRA),Dr. Philip Barnor expressed worry that only 2.7 percent of Ghana’s population was fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
He mentioned that out of the over 3,000 health facilities in the country, 90 percent of them “are private health facilities, which shows that we are indeed poised to partner in resonating the agenda of government in achieving quality and universal healthcare access by all in the country”.
Dr. Barnor asked members of HeFRA said “I assure you that with the private health facilities as partners of HeFRA, the future of healthcare delivery in Ghana would be intact”.
Dr. Ernest Kwarko, Board Chairman of the NHIA, called on the private health facilities to focus on building robust health systems towards quality health care delivery.
Mr. Francis Fosu, Ashanti Regional Chairman, PHFAoG, said the group through innovations and exceptional working practices, was helping to improve the country’s health care delivery.
FROM KINGSLEY E.HOPE, KUMASI
