By Jude Michael
The Anambra State Health Insurance Agency HAS launched a new standard medical treatment guideline that will help guide the quality of care rendered by different specialists attending to beneficiaries of the scheme.
This was announced during the quarterly meeting held recently with the medical directors and hospital administrators of the accredited health providers of the Anambra State Health Insurance Scheme (ASHIA) at the quarterly ASHIA/Providers meeting held at the Agency’s office, opposite government House in Awka.
During the meeting, the MD/CEO of ASHIA, Dr Simeon Onyemaechi, reiterated the benefits of the hospitals submitting their encounter forms and said that at the discretion of the agency, defaulters would suffer serious consequences for failure to comply before the deadline given.
‘It ensures that healthcare providers follow standardized protocols, leading to consistent care across different practitioners and settings,’ he said.
The hospital Administrator of Rock Foundation Hospital, Awka, Dr Chukwudi Njelita, pleaded with the agency to increase their standard and cost of practice in order to ensure that the specialist doctors could provide optimal services to the enrollees.
In response, Dr. Onyemaechi said that the sole aim of health insurance was to ensure that everyone, including the rich and the poor, could access quality health care services at an affordable rate. He approved a 25% increment in the caesarean section and promised to adjust the rates of other procedures to reflect the current economic situation.
Several other issues and discrepancies were successfully addressed by the MD, Dr Onyemaechi.
