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Vice President Alhaji Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has launched the “MyNHIS app” in Tamale in the Northern region.
The National Health Insurance Scheme’s mobile application, dubbed “MyNHIS app” will enable people to sit at the comfort of their homes to register to join the scheme.
The application will also enable members of the scheme to renew their membership and that of third parties, access frequently asked questions (FAQs), aid in location of all NHIS Offices and link NHIS cards to their Ghana cards and also serves as NHIS office for clients in their homes or pockets.
The Vice President at the launch in Tamale said the new NHIS mobile app will operate on both Android and iOS smartphones and will allow NHIS members to securely pay registration and membership renewal fees from their mobile money wallets, Bank and Visa cards noting that the formal sector workers and businessmen and women per their busy schedule do not need to go to the NHIS District Offices anymore which he believes will accelerate progress towards the quest to achieve universal health coverage by 2030.
“ Embedded in the MyNHISapp is a member authentication feature to enable healthcare providers validate the membership status of members of the scheme before providing healthcare to them. This feature of the application will also help to reduce spurious claims, ranging from impersonation and claims manufacturing resulting from collusion between NHIS clients and healthcare providers.”
Dr. Bawumia disclosed that the NHIS since its introduction, has no doubt, contributed to increased utilization of healthcare services, leading to improved health outcomes of the population adding that there have been significant reductions in maternal and child mortalities over the last two decades.
According to him, the NHIS has gone through several reforms over the years to improve its services to the members with the launch of the NHIS- Ghana card linkage were over 5 million members of the NHIS have been linked to their Ghana Cards to enable them to use the Ghana card to access healthcare since 1st of May, 2020.
“Hopefully, when all members of the scheme are linked to their Ghana Cards, the NHIS card will be phased out and the Ghana Card will be the sole card for accessing healthcare services in the credentialled healthcare facilities. Aside this, we have also embarked on a project, together with the National Identification Authority (NIA), National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Ghana Health Service, and Births and Deaths Registry, to link births and deaths data to the NIA database to give unique identification numbers to all newborn babies starting first quarter of next year.”
The NHIA has implemented electronic medical claims (Claim-IT) to reduce turnaround time for claims preparation and submission and reduce spurious claims and cost to the scheme for increased sustainability. Currently, close to 3000 healthcare providers, representing 70% are submitting medical claims electronically. The scale-up of this digital innovation is ongoing. All providers submitting manual claims have been trained and hopefully, the over 5000 credentialled healthcare providers of the scheme will start submitting electronic claims by end of the second quarter of 2023.”
The Chief Executive of the National Health Insurance Authority, Dr. Bernard Okoe Boye, during the launched the “MyNHIS app” noted that the introduction of the mobile renewal has been a phenomenal game changer.
“I am proud to say the Vice President H.E Bawumia has been with us through the digital advancing stages when he launched this innovative intervention exactly four years ago. By a simple dial of *929#, millions of residents in Ghana, can renew and link their NHIS card to the Ghana card any where anytime. This digital drive infused high levels of vibrancy in our operations and has since 2018 been the preferred choice of renewal of NHIS membership and linkage to the Ghana card.
The mobile renewal has significantly reduced the hitherto long queues at our office while allowing members to check policy validity, medicines list and benefits package. Thanks to digitization, Your Excellency, long queues are now a thing of the past. I dare say that when you pay a visit to the Walewale office of the NHIA today around this time you will not meet the kind of long queues that use to exist.”
According to him, NHIA is currently pursuing a 5-Point turn-around strategy dubbed 5D’s to revamp operations of the scheme through Digitization, Development, Dissemination, Data, and Decentralization.
He said the authority continues to chalk some successes in their quest to make the Authority the most relevant and visible public organization in Ghana.
Dr. Boye assured that the new NHIS Mobile APP known as ‘MyNHIS’ is a one stop convenient way of getting medical insurance in this country and thanked the Board, Management, Project Team, and staff of the Authority for this innovation. The future remains digitiization.
He was of the view that despite the challenges that they have as a scheme, the NHIA pays out an average of GHS 100 million monthly in claims to health providers across the country.
“Your Excellency that is to say the Akufo-Addo government through the NHIA invests GHS 1.2 billion annually in the health delivery sector, an indication of the government’s strong commitment to a vibrant NHIS. Under the able leadership of the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government, we are determined to improve the scheme and make it better for all.”
Source: myghanadaily
