Accra, Nov. 5, GNA - The National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) is to fast track payment of claims to providers to ensure smooth running of the scheme. It has also begun rolling out Information Communication Technology infrastructure, which will be fully operational by the middle of next year to ensure that claims are processed and paid at various district mutual scheme centres rather than the central authority handling them. To this end, its claims officers and Management Information Systems (MIS) managers all over the country have been undergoing a training workshop to improve their competences on processing, management and payment of claims.

Addressing the last day of the month-long training workshop in Accra on Thursday, Mr Sylvester Mensah, Chief Executive Officer of the National Health Insurance Authority, said management had observed that vetting processes of claims for immediate payment had been slow resulting in a backlog of claims.

Mr Mensah said management studied the situation and realized that its Claims Officers and MIS managers lacked capacity to expeditiously handle the process and hence the need for the training. He said the officers underwent training on a new claims module and membership registration to enable them to properly vet claims and make preliminary approvals for payment.

Mr Mensah said the issue of claims had been a thorny one for management and that it was doing everything to fast track their clearance processes. He said the Authority was aware of moves by some unscrupulous persons to abuse the scheme adding that measures such as periodic audits had been put in place to arrest such a situation. The National Health Insurance Scheme has expanded coverage with 12,269,503 registered members by the end of 2008, representing 54 per cent of the population according to official sources. 5 Nov. 09