The Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Prof Mohammed Nasir Sambo, has disclosed that the scheme will in a short time launch its electronic platform otherwise known as E-NHIS.
Sambo disclosed this during the NHIS-Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) Standing Committee meeting in Abuja.
He noted that the NHIS electronic platform will revolutionise the health insurance system in the country.
Sambo stated that the E-NHIS platform will enable the transactions of registration, enrollment and change of facilities amongst other business processes on electronic devices, adding that these actions will be viewed in real-time on the Scheme’s tracking monitor.
Sambo further explained that HMOs’ activities under the Scheme will be tracked on the instant, including claims which will also be managed electronically.
Advising HMOs to brace up for tougher days ahead, Sambo noted that with E-NHIS, enrollees will have the privilege of selecting their HMOs which is a departure from the present system whereby organisations retained the right to choose HMOs for enrollees especially under the public sector programme of the Scheme.
According to Sambo, the E-NHIS platform will manage patients’ history and give instant access to required information.
While recalling the trajectory of the E-NHIS project which has been on the drawing board for over a decade, Sambo expressed appreciation to President Muhammadu Buhari administration for breathing life into the project, while drawing attention to the fact that the Federal Executive Council, the ministry of health and the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, whose support were unflinching and instrumental to the attainment of this milestone.
The earliest attempt to mount NHIS on an electronic platform was around 2008 when the contract for the project was stood down by the then Federal Executive Council.