Chief Executive Officer of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Bernard Okoe Boye, says the authority will go after “unscrupulous” health facilities under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) charging illegal fees and bring them to book.
He said this is to clamp down on unscrupulous persons engaging in the act and bringing the scheme into disrepute.
“Very soon we are going to invite some of the heads of hospitals who we have sent teams to and have brought us reports of the practice of illegal charges in their facilities,” he said at the commissioning of a new NHIS office at Ejisu in the Ashanti Region.
The CEO said the Government was committed to ensuring the sustainability of the NHIS, saying that, what Ghanaians had to do was to report anomalies at the facilities to the Scheme to help improve on service delivery.
He further disclosed that claims paid to health facilities on a monthly basis by the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) for their services to patients rolled unto the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) has been increased from GH¢100 million to GH¢ 150 million.
This, according to Chief Executive Officer of the scheme is an increase of 50% in the amount previously paid.
Speaking at the commissioning of a new NHIS office at Ejisu in the Ashanti Region, he said: “I can tell you that every month we pay an average of GHC 150 million to health facilities across Ghana for attending to NHIS clients.”
He explained that the increment is “due to the movement of the currency and inflationary pressures.”
The newly commissioned offices would be a permanent one for the Ejisu and Juaben Municipalities after years of operating in rented offices.
Dr. Okoe Boye said despite challenges facing the Scheme it remained one of the most impactful interventions introduced by successive governments.