National Health Insurance Authority adjusted its prices upwards

SERVICE providers under the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) are to enjoy upward adjustment of 26 per cent in their tariffs effective February 1, 2013, the Chief Executive of the NHIA, Mr Slyvester Mensah, has announced.
At a press briefing in Accra yesterday, Mr Mensah said prices of medicines on the NHIA list would also go up accordingly to make the service complete.
He said prices of medicines had increased on the market and the idea was to harmonise all the prices and fix a legitimate price under the NHIA medicine list.
Mr Mensah said the review had also resulted in the introduction of additional services under the scheme such as physiotherapy, cataract surgery with lens implant (including the cost of intraocular lens), CT Scan and MRI, as well as chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
He was, however, quick to explain that the chemotherapy and radiotherapy would come along with certain restrictions.
Mr Mensah said the increase in the tariffs would come as a relief to many health service providers, hospitals and other healthcare institutions and centres under the scheme after they had raised concerns about the increasing cost of health care.
He said in furtherance of the general upward adjustments, the scheme had adopted the Ghana Diagnostic Related Groupings (G-DRGs) for payment of the tariffs.
The G-DRG is a payment method in health insurance where related diagnoses are grouped together and the average cost of treatment in that group determined. Health service providers are, therefore, paid according to the diagnosis they give their clients.
Over the years, the providers have complained that the fee paid them by the NHIS was not consistent with price changes on the market.
Mr Mensah said following several appeals from the providers, the NHIS embarked on a review of the fees.
The review, which in itself is considered a highly technical endeavour according to the Chief Executive, was done with assistance from a group of experts and consultants in collaboration with health specialists and physicians in tertiary, secondary and primary hospitals.
 He said it was projected that the modifications and inclusions of the G-DRG structure and the review process had resulted in a number of key changes to the existing  structure.
Mr Mensah said today’s announcement was preceded by a comprehensive nationwide training programme which lasted for a whole year for healthcare providers, representatives of professional associations and scheme staff on the review to ensure a thorough understanding of the changes in order to guarantee a smooth implementation of the new tariff regime.
Mr Mensah expressed his appreciation to providers and stakeholders for their patience and support during the review process.