Suspend health insurance capitation – Group

Health care providers in Ashanti, have demanded the immediate suspension of the health insurance capitation after the scheme had been piloted in the region for two years.

The mission, private and government hospitals, said the insurance payment system was paralyzing their operations and the quality of care.

Addressing a press conference in Kumasi,  Dr. Kwasi Awudzi-Yeboah, Kumasi Metropolitan Health Director, labeled the capitation as neither beneficial to the facilities nor the patients.

He said their position was that until it was ready for a nationwide roll-out, its implementation in Ashanti should cease.

He expressed discomfort with the situation where under the Ghana Diagnostic Related Groupings (GDRG), rates paid to service providers in the other regions, were much higher than that fixed for the capitation.

Dr Awudzi-Yeboah said whilst their counterparts in the nine other regions received over GH¢7.00 for services, they were getting a paltry GH¢1.30 per patient a month.

Again, more patients were using the facilities than projected by government, resulting in huge losses and affecting the quality of services.

He cited the example of the Suntreso Government Hospital, where revenue loss between January and November 2013, was calculated to be within the range of about GH¢125,229.00.

The group said it was time the National Health Insurance Authority listened to the concerns raised by the stakeholders and shelved the capitation.

Dr. Emmanuel Harry Tawiah, Regional Chairman of the Society of Private Medical and Dental Practitioners, said the capitation was collapsing many of the facilities.

Source: GNA