I.C.T Practices

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VIDEO PRESENTATION ON THE TOPIC

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AUDIO PRESENTATION ON THE TOPIC

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TEXT PRESENTATION ON THE TOPIC

Theme: I.C.T Practices

Topic: Organisational I.C.T Practices

Facilitator: Michael Fordjour

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So we are looking at the organizational ICT practices That is how we are leveraging on technology to improve services. Now, so the question is, how has ICT practices and data operations help improve efficiency in the organisation. So we are looking at ICT presence and its operations Now we want to look at the role of ICT in NHIA organizational operations. Now there are some key points we want to look at. as a role of ICT in NHIA. And the first is when we’ve got the digital transformation of operations. Now, ICT has enabled NHIA to automate processes like the registration and claims, which forms the two major operations that occurs at NHIA, thereby improving efficiency and reducing errors. So there are Systems such as the biometric registration system, we have the claims IT or the claims it, which helps to digitalize our processes when it comes to registration and claims. And these have helped improve the efficiency and has reduced the errors as compared when we were using manual to do these processes. Now, the other thing is when it comes to transparency and accountability, now the digital records allow NHIA to track transactions and audit claims, thereby reducing fraud and misuse of funds. So now most of the processes are transparent because it’s been digitalized because we use systems that keeps records and records are always available to be tracked. So it makes fraudulent activities or the use of funds something that is not common practice now as far as the authority is concerned. Now the other area of coordination and communication It has really been enhanced with the support of the ICT infrastructure or ICT systems in place. So these ICT supports collaboration across all NHIE offices in the country and health facilities as well through NHIE’s internal portals and shared databases because there are a lot of these internal portals that are developed to enhance the processes of the authority. And there is a shared database where every stakeholder can access in order to make their processes efficient. Now there is also a data-driven which helps decision making easy because data is available. We have a database that keeps all transactions or all records are kept. So it makes decisions very easy by management as we use these ICT generated reports to analyze the trends and able to plan healthcare services effectively. So with these ICT tools, most of their systems do have analyzing tools. or analysis tools. Some even have AI that makes report very easy for decision making. Now we are now looking at the overview of the National Health Insurance Authority. So you ask what’s the main mandate and role of NHIS. Now NHIS main rule is just to ensure there is affordability, there is equity, there is quality in healthcare delivery for everybody who is a Ghanaian. So anybody who enrolls on NHIS is accessible to quality, free healthcare, no matter the condition, no matter the affordability of the person. This rule, their role is to make sure that everybody gets quality healthcare. Now, so the distract. Now, we also want to look at decentralized structure and ICT use. Now, so NHIS uses decentralized offices. The offices are decentralized. Each works on their own, just that they all report to the head office. But they have centralized ICT systems to coordinate and standardize nationwide healthcare data. So if you come to the health office, most of the applications used are centralized so that all the offices across can all hook onto that centralized system to offer the service needed for our members and our clients. Now, there’s also an electronic provider interaction where these ICT platforms allow healthcare providers also to submit their claims and verify credentials electronically with NHI. So these electronic provider electronic verification systems is also in place where healthcare providers are are also able to submit their claims to the authority for verification and reimbursement electronically so thereby eliminating all the manual processes now because of these simply there is operational efficiency and trust operational efficiency and trust So these ICT systems supports NHIS efficiency, financial sustainability, and builds public trust in health insurance services. So with lots of these in place, as we’ve talked about, the fact that we are able to track all transactions. It makes and also eliminates the waste in the system. Efficiency is high. because every transaction is done instantly because of these ICT systems. And therefore, there is also a financial sustainability because monies that doing manual system could have passed through wrong hands. Now, the system is in place to make sure that all monies are collected to one point. For example, when I remember once we knew saw a card he can just easily go to the um these mobile vendors even on his phone at his own house can just make payment and these monies are sent electronically to the authority so with this the public have trust in the insurance because they know that monies collected get into the safe hands so there is operational efficiency and there is also trust amongst the public now so we now want to um focus our attention on the ICT infrastructure that we have the basic we have um in other sessions we are going to pick some of these infrastructure and then go details about it now so we have a core hardware and networks in place and these um ICT infrastructure includes a centralized server so we have servers um that is housed in a data center we have computers in um We have computers that are arranged in all offices in the workstation form. And then there’s also a secure network that supports nationwide data access and communication. So this infrastructure will include, as I’ve said, we have servers, computers, and secure networks across that helps our offices and our providers to have access to the data easily. Now, we also have the data management systems where centralized database stores sensitive member and claims data, ensuring high transaction handling and real-time updates. So we also have a database system that stores any sensitive information, including member sensitive data or member data. and even claims data, all these are stored in a central management system to make access to this data often and reliable. Anybody who is authorized to access such data can easily have access to it. And it means that transactions that are handled at a high level and then they are also updated real time. Now there’s also a specialized software applications. Most of the processes within NHIA have these software. So NHIA uses these software such as membership management, claims processing, okay? And then they are also able to receive reports and backups for operational continuity. So there are a lot of these softwares, we talk about claims. Claims have ClaimBit, the member registration have the BMS. There are a lot of the applications that are there that enhances the operations so that any time information is needed, any time information needs to be updated and examined instantly. Now, there are just challenges. We just want to come across that there are challenges. And as a growing country, we can’t run away from challenges like power sometimes within certain areas, some rural areas. We definitely face some outages. But because of the central system, such problems are reduced. because there’s a central system that keeps most of these data for them to access and we’re able to control at that level. Now we are looking at the NHIS membership registration and management systems as a whole. So the first thing to look at is that this membership registration has a biometric registration system where biometric technology is used to capture fingerprints and photos to uniquely identify members and prevent identity fraud so across all the offices any member can go there to register by taking his fingerprints and photo images with authority and once it is captured in what in real time basis it is stored onto the database and access to it can be made easy anywhere. So any member can register anywhere in any of the offices because of this biometric registration system. We also have the centralized membership database for the membership registration management and management system. It has a centralized membership database where a national centralized database stores member data, allowing seamless healthcare access without manual verification. So all these data that’s collected through the biometric registration, they are stored on a centralized membership database where access to it is made easy by relevant users and it reduces the manual verification now with this database system in place it makes data-driven policy and planning easy so data-driven policy and planning where members membership data analysis helps NHIE identify trans and target areas or regions that have lower enrollment for educational campaigns and even registration. So most of the time, NHIS embarks on free registration based on some of these analysis areas lacking enrollment. NHIS sometimes offer free services for them too, because there is data available for analysis. Now we want to look at how ICT systems support the healthcare delivery services. And one of the first point to consider here is that there is an electronic verification system, okay, which helps all our healthcare providers to be able to verify patients insurance status. That is whether they are active or not active because a member will need to be active before um Healthcare can be provided for him so when the verification system facilities or providers can just log on to the verification system and then they will be able to determine whether the patient is active or not active then there is also a monitoring service utilization patterns where ICT captures and analyze health data. So we have this that helps us to capture and analyze health data to identify trends and support targeted public health interventions across regions. So in area of healthcare, where is… So this helps the authority to be able to what analyze health data and where it is necessary to provide or give attention to it is what it is done. Now this additive support also helps improve our patient’s experience because we have the digital verification and claim submission helps reduce the paperwork and the waiting times, enhancing patients’ quality healthcare. With some years ago, because most of the claim submission was done with paperwork, there were a lot of challenges. Some facilities will have to wait for some number of months before their claims are vetted. or verified for reimbursement but with these systems in place now they can instantly be what submitted and verified so the waiting time is reduced so on this point we want to bring this first section of the topic here we would have another section for you thank you

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