Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has revealed that digitizing the operations of theNational Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) has helped reduce fraudulent claims.
He noted that the renewal of all national health insurance registrations used to take place at the various NHIA district offices and this led to backlogs and long queues.
Speaking at a public lecture how Ghana’s economy was being digitalized at the Ashesi University, Dr. Bawumia said Following digitization, renewal of health insurance registration via mobile phone (*929#) has eliminated these bottlenecks and also increased access to health care by those who need the services most and led to an increase in renewals by 70% while new registrations have increased by 41.4% per annum.
He added that Before the Government commenced its systematic digitization of medical records at the public health facilities, all records and documents were paper-based and the process of locating patients’ files was cumbersome and documents sometimes were misplaced or misfiled, adding, this caused delays and inefficiencies in the delivery of health services and the reluctance of some sick people to visit public health facilities.
“This effort has increased efficiency, effectiveness, and productivity in service delivery by our health facilities, eliminating the need for queues and delays and also increasing access to health care by those who need the services most. Henceforth, the medical records and history of patients will be gathered under a single digital database which can be accessed by any networked hospital when patients visit. We have also embarked on the connection of health facilities under the Ghana Health Service (GHS) on one digital platform. So far, all teaching hospitals and all regional hospitals have been connected and can talk to each other. Thirty-six health facilities in the Central region have also been connected to the digital platform in a pilot scheme “.
“So now if you are referred from a hospital-like Tamale Teaching Hospital to Korle-bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, you do not need to carry a folder… all your records will be seen and monitored by the doctor in Korle Bu when you arrive. Patients will have only one digital folder wherever they go “.
Source: Mybrytfmonline.com/Kofi Atakora
