Value-based Care to be piloted in 60 hospitals – PharmAccess Country Director

Value based care will be piloted in 60 hospitals – PharmAccess Country Director

The Country Director of the PharmAccess Foundation in Ghana has announced that the Value-Based Care (VBC) system will be piloted in 60 health facilities.

All hospitals that will benefit from this initiative will be members of the Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG).

According to Dr. Maxwell Antwi, 120 health providers, including doctors, nurses, and pharmacists, will be trained to deliver the VBC health care system.

He made the comments at the end of a 5-day workshop in Accra organized by the PharmAccess Foundation in Ghana in partnership with the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Leapfrog to Value and CHAG.

“The Christian Health Association of Ghana and the National Health Insurance Authority have come together to start. So, we will start with 60 hospitals from CHAG and train about 120 health providers, including doctors, nurses, midwives, and pharmacists, to focus more on hypertension. We has shown why we start hypertension: one in four Ghanaians have it, only 30% know it, only 22% are treated, and only 6% are under control. So that’s really a huge burden; that’s why we want to start hypertension.” said.

NHIA has in recent years deployed digital technology to improve healthcare delivery in Ghana. Among these technologies are the mobile NHIS renewal system, which helps customers renew and pay insurance premiums in a convenient way, and the digital claim submission application, CLAIM-IT, which helps providers submit claims hassle-free.

The pilot of Value-Based Care will be part of an initiative by the NHIA to address some of the challenges in healthcare delivery in Ghana.

The VBC model is patient-centered, and ensures efficient use and allocation of resources, ensures quality, and improves health outcomes.

The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) currently rewards health providers based on the volume of patients visiting the facility rather than the results of services provided.

This system, according to the Country Director for PharmAccess in Ghana, is a drain on the public purse.

He believes that the VBC system, if successfully implemented, will provide all citizens with quality and equal access to basic health care.

Dr. Maxwell Antwi further pointed out that the prevalence of hypertension in Ghana has been on the rise; a phenomenon that puts stress on the health system as well as the economy.

He added: “If you have complications of hypertension, which are usually kidney disease, stroke, heart disease, or eye disease, you will live a very long time because it affects the middle-aged group. . We will train health workers on how to provide value-based care, exceed the volume, and the scheme is designed to incentivize those who will do it. Patients will be mobilized so that they are also aware of adherence to treatment and medication compliance, as well as the mobilization of the entire health ecosystem. From now on, if someone has hypertension or diabetes, the doctor will be paid based on blood pressure or sugar control, rather than the number of times a patient comes to the hospital,” said Dr Antwi.

The public health expert also stated that he is working with the Department of Economics of the University of Ghana on a cost and incentive model for a Value Based Care system.

“CHAG and NHIA are looking for a VBC system for a year, after which the results will be measured. This will then inform the decision whether to maintain the status quo or implement the VBC system in all countries”.

Digital health experts emphasize the importance of data analysis in the delivery of quality health care. He said data analytics using technology would enable NHIA to gain insight into customer disease patterns and the cost of treating those diseases over time.

PharmAccess provides technical assistance, including capacity building, advice, and data analytics, to make NHIA a data-driven insurance and knowledge agency that uses the potential of disruptive technologies to create value from its own data.

Three years of NHIA membership data (2017–2019) have been analyzed and key insights shared with NHIA management and council, as well as key stakeholders including the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Finance, and health sector development partners for management. decision making and policy development.

PharmAccess presented seven high spec laptops to NHIA’s newly set up Data Analysis Unit to facilitate their work.

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