The CEO of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Dr. Da-Costa Aboagye, has affirmed that his organization is closely collaborating with the Ministry of Finance to settle debts owed to healthcare facilities.

Despite reports indicating significant debts accumulated over several months, Dr. Aboagye, speaking in an interview with Umaru Sanda Amadu on Face to Face on Citi TV, mentioned that payments for November are currently being processed for disbursement in April.

He praised the government for its dedication to maintaining the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), highlighting that they owe only two months of payments to higher-tier hospitals.

Dr. Aboagye expressed confidence in clearing the backlog, mentioning that the necessary steps are being taken to ensure timely payments to providers, with assurances from the finance ministry.

Regarding tariffs, he mentioned plans to review them to align with current economic conditions.

“Government is really doing very well in terms of the National Health Insurance Scheme. When you submit your claim as a hospital, we vet, so you see that some of the months, some hospitals may not pass the validation. Because they have not submitted the right things they needed to. Once they submit it, we pay it the next month.

“We’re on course, it’s not our fault that we have not actually paid. We only owe two months, that is November, and December 2023, but we’re even paying November this month [April]. Almost all the higher tier hospitals, we owe them two months. But that is not bad, we’re working with the finance ministry, they will give us money.

“I have the credentials on my table, we will process to pay the November, but I think we will clear the backlog. I’m looking up to the government to give me money to pay providers. I have all the assurances from the finance ministry that they will pay us.”

“There will be mechanisms, making sure that we review the tariffs to commiserate with current economic conditions. Once we do that, we will seek automatic price adjustment which will be guaranteed for the facilities, even if prices go up you’re secured,” he said.