MTRH HOSTS NHIF CEO to Mark One mark one year since the launch of the Busia UHC pilot
Today we hosted the NHIF Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr. Peter Kamunyo to mark one year since the launch of the Busia UHC pilot.
The pilot is a collaborative partnership between Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH)/AMPATH, National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF), and Busia County Government.
It aims to demonstrate a UHC model using a three pronged approach with economic empowerment, health systems strengthening and healthcare financing reforms with the expansion of health insurance coverage using NHIF.
Speaking during the meeting, MTRH CEO, Dr. Wilson K. Aruasa, MBS, EBS reiterated the importance of implementing the proposed model because of its holistic approach and the need for multi-sectorial collaboration to address the social determinants of health.
“The role of government agencies in the pilot provide a unique opportunity to scale up the model countrywide,” said Dr. Aruasa.
Dr. Peter Kamunyo applauded the efforts of the team and the Busia Health Widget. He added that the model spoke to the key issues being addressed by ongoing NHIF reforms.
“The reforms provide a legal framework to achieve UHC in the country. The reforms include ,among others, the adoption of the digital systems, mandatory enrolment of all adults into the UHC supa cover as well as the identification and enrolment of indigent households into the scheme” he said.
He noted that while Public facilities were beginning to tap more into the potential of NHIF capitation and reimbursement to finance the service delivery, there was still a huge untapped potential that remain.
Also in the meeting was Prof. J. Mamlin, one of the founders of AMPATH, who lauded the partnership and expressed confidence in the model. He challenged the team to remain adaptive to the ever-changing policy environment.
Prof. Kimaiyo, AMPATH Executive Director, care, echoed his sentiments adding that the UHC model was a culmination of over 2 decades of providing care in Western Kenya and remained confident that the lessons from the model would be applicable in similar settings globally.
The model proposes that the County Governments’ play a central role in the contribution of NHIF premiums for its citizens.
Households would also be expected to contribute in the pilot in order to mobilize sufficient resources for the roll out of the pilot.
In the pilot, 2,050 families were enrolled into NHIF with premiums fully paid for a year. These households also benefited from economic empowerment intervention.
Training of Human Resources for Health (HRH) on quality improvement is one of the key priorities in the pilot in order to build capacity and improve health services delivery at the health facilities.
During the 1st year of the pilot, facility health funds increased significantly owing to NHIF primary care capitation resulting from increased enrolment of households and their beneficiaries.
The two CEOs discussed matters of mutual interest for the two Institutions including patient electronic records, e-claims processing and also visited the upcoming 4-floor MTRH Financial Services Centre of Excellence whose ground floor will be a fully fledged NHIF, MTRH Branch, currently at —40% completion( 22 weeks out of maximum 52 weeks). They noted that the contractor Frejed Engineering Services Ltd is doing a superb job.
Present at the meeting was a representative from Busia county, Dr. David Mukhabi, the County UHC Director. The AMPATH population health team led by Dr. Jeremiah Laktabai, Beryl Maritim, Benjamin Andama, Charity Wambui, Caitrin Kelly, William Omoro, Michael Kibiwot, and Milka Cheptinga. Present from MTRH were, Thomas Ng’etich, Daniel Rotich and Stanley Kulei. Accompanying the NHIF CEO, was Grace Kimani and Robert Otom from the national and regional office.
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