Value-Based Care critical for improving healthcare delivery in Ghana – NHIA Boss

Accra-Ghana, Feb. 17, GNA – Dr Bernard Okoe-Boye, the Chief Executive Officer of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), says the Authority is adopting a Value-Based Care (VBC) system to address some of the challenges facing healthcare delivery in the country.
The successful implementation of the VBC will provide all citizens with quality and equitable access to basic healthcare.
Dr Okoe-Boye said this at the opening of a five-day workshop for service providers in Accra.
It was organised by the PharmAccess Foundation in partnership with the Leapfrog to Value and the Christian Health Association of Ghana.
Data analytics and digitalisation of the NHIA system would be key to the implementation of Value-Based Care, he added.
The NHIA, in recent years, has deployed digital technologies to enhance the provision of healthcare in Ghana.
Some of those technologies include the mobile NHIS renewal system which helps subscribers to renew and pay their insurance premiums conveniently and the digital claims submission (CLAIM-IT) application that helps service providers to submit their claims without hassle.
The NHIA Boss said the digitalisation of the Authority’s processes had allowed it to analyze and visualize its data to aid decision-making towards improving the Scheme’s sustainability.
“Well, I’m excited because you can have so much data, but if you don’t sit down to look at the data, you might not profit from it.
“A few years ago, 80% of our claims management process was manual. People were forced to sit by papers to assist, and so on. It was not efficient,” he recalled.
Dr Okoe-Boye stated that at the moment approximately 75 per cent of its processes were now electronic.
Those digital processes had improved its services and the Authority’s digital transformation drive in managing service providers and subscribers.
“These digitalized processes allowed us to consolidate all the information we have about Ghanaians who attend hospitals,” he noted.
“Careful analysis of claims using technology has enabled the Authority to gain insights into the disease patterns of subscribers and the cost of care for those diseases over time,” he stated.
“The Value-Based Care helps us to know where to channel our resources and have the best outcome,” Dr Okoe-Boye stated.
Dr Peter Yeboah, Executive Director, Christian Health Association of Ghana, said the current challenges within the health insurance administration had necessitated the need for the VBC system.
The new model has also reduced the burden on the Scheme in terms of payment of claims, he said.
“The central goal of any health system is to provide optimal health outcomes to individuals and wellbeing of the society,” he pointed out.
Dr Gifty Sunkwa-Mills, Operations Manager at the PharmAccess Foundation, said if the Value-Based Care model is fully implemented, it would provide transparency for service providers and ensure better outcomes.
NHIS VBC