The Eastern region is the next to be covered under the National Health Insurance Scheme’s (NHIS) Biometric Membership Solution which among other things ensures instant issuance of identification cards to subscribers upon registration.
The system which has been operational in the Greater Accra and Central Regions for the past three months followed a pilot of two districts in Accra.
Representatives from almost all health facilities in the Eastern Region are currently undergoing sensitization exercises in the various districts to prepare them for the roll out of one of NHIA’s flagship programs – Biometric Membership Solution that seeks to inject efficiency in the card management of the scheme.
The event is targeted at Doctors, Pharmacists, Midwives, Nurses, Hospital Administrators and other key operatives who will oversee the implementation of the program at their various institutions.
At one of such meetings held in the New Juaben District in Koforidua, the Director of Management Information Systems [MIS], Mr. Perry Nelson intimated that the NHIS was rolling out this initiative to address particular challenges affecting the data integrity of the scheme and to clean it up by using a biometric feature, namely fingerprints, of members as a means of preventing duplicate registrations as was the case in the past.
At the provider end, the cards will have to be authenticated on a device to identify the member, ensure that his membership is in good standing and finally links the attendance to the claims that will be submitted by the provider.
This is a real enhancement of the previous practice as it will also help to check fraud and abuse in the payment of claims.
In his closing remarks, the Eastern Regional Director of the NHIS, Alhaji Seidu Abudu, thanked all the participants and urged them to co-operate with the scheme in the roll-out of the solution in the region for the collective benefit of all Ghanaians.
The solution will go live within a couple of weeks in the Eastern Region and will bring to 3 the number of regions implementing the instant issuance of NHIS ID cards.
Source: NHIS