NHIA to pay hospitals 30% more for medicines

The National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) says it will pay hospitals 30 per cent more for medicines in order to ensure an expansive health services coverage across the country.

This development comes on the backdrop of an upward review of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS)medicine and services tariffs in accordance with the NHIS Act 852 (Act 2012) and signed by the NHIA’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr. Bernard Okoe-Boye.

This was contained in a statement issued by the NHIA Corporate Affairs Directorate and copied the Ghanaian Times yesterday.

“The NHIA Board commissioned a multi-stakeholder team to conduct a costing exercise of health care services that would inform the next services tariff review. The output of the coating exercise was used to determine reviewed tariffs rate,” the statement explained.

“In line with standard practices, all key stakeholders were involved in the process of the review. The average impact of the services tariffs across all provider types in the public sectors is about 35 percent increment from the previous service tariffs,” the statement added.

The reviewed medicine and service tariffs, the NHIA said, was done in consultation with relevant stakeholders taking into consideration all economic indices which would help improve the availability of all medicine on the NHIS medicine list, minimize out-of-pocket payments by NHIS members and increase public confidence in the Scheme.

Among the reviewed medicines and tariffs which became effective last Friday include treatment of the newly added four Childhood Cancers, Clinical Family services and Hydroxyurea for Sickle Cell Anaemia.

According to the said statement, the reviewed Medicine List had a total of 564 formulations after a national survey on the prices of medicines in all sixteen regions of the country was conducted using the methodology of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Health Action International (HAI).

It adds that “the output of the Framework Contract Agreement with the Ministry of Health was also factored into the pricing of the formulation within the contract agreement.”

However, the Management of the NHIA had assured the general public of its commitment of ensuring that the country attains a Universal Health Coverage (UHC) through the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

“Management of the NHIA wishes to assure all Ghanaians that the NHIS continues to be the vehicle and the road towards attaining a Universal Health Coverage (UHC),” that statement said.