Health facilities suffocating over unpaid NHIS claims

Health facilities in the Volta region will soon be compelled to revert to the ‘cash and carry’ system, should the management of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), fail to pay outstanding claims owed the service providers for more than six months.

Dr. Joseph Teye-Nuertey, the Volta regional Director of Health Services who gave the hint during the 2014 performance review meeting in Ho, said though the health facilities have kept their side of the collective agreement by providing healthcare services to NHIS clients, the NHIA continue to renege on its obligation to the facilities.

He said : “in business terms, you do not expect to owe an entity for over six month and the entity continues to provide credit facilities to your clients… We just want to sound a note of caution to the managers of NHIA, that we have kept our part of the agreement for far too long while they have blatantly violated their part of the agreement, not to owe us for over three months”.

According to Dr. Nuertey, the situation is suffocating the health facilities in the region as they struggle to pay their suppliers. “All the oxygen cylinders in the hospitals are drying empty, and it will not be long when the resilience and the little life left in our facilities get exhausted.”

The regional performance review meeting was on the theme : “achieving excellence and improved service delivery outcomes through effective linkage between public health and clinical service.”