NHIF is introducing the use of fingerprints to tackle fraud and speed up of payment of medical claims.
NHIF is state-funded medical insurance that millions of Kenyans rely on, some have claimed that it works really well while others have had their issues with the insurance. In an attempt to tackle fraud NHIF users will now be required to use fingerprints.
The mass registration started a mass biometric registration this week and the transition will mean that there’ll be fewer fraudulent claims.
What are some of the fraudulent claims?
There are Kenyans who don’t have the accessibility to healthcare so instead they use fake identities to seek medical care and hospitals processing claims.
The whole process will rule out manual processing of hospital bills and will instead introduce a biometric registration together with the installation of an electronic claims system. All hospitals will need to have made the big move by July 11th additionally if you’re a NHIF member you’ll need to be registered under biometrics to access their cover.
Where will you register?
NHIF CEO Peter Kamunyo said that the fingers of members and their dependents will have to be registered at either NHIF service points or specific hospitals countrywide.
NHIF CEO said:
“We want to ensure all NHIF members are biometrically registered. This will improve efficiency in terms of access to healthcare since they will not have to carry their cards. It will also reduce fraud that rides on impersonation,”
We’ve been waiting for this huge transition especially since most people experience challenges for dependents who NHIF don’t give a separate card which makes it hard for kids to have health accessibility when the card is far from them.
Where has it been rolled out?
The E-claim system has been rolled out in Western, Nyanza, Central, Coast, parts of Nairobi, Eastern and, Rift Valley regions. The remaining regions will have the new system in about two to three weeks.
Mr Kamunyo said:
“All healthcare providers will be submitting their claims electronically after July 11. This is will reduce the turnaround time for payments and cut issues of reconciliation,”
What will the e-claims system do?
It’ll actually work like a proper organized insurance system which will give access to transaction records, patients visits and the amounts charged.
What’s the next step?
NHIF may soon be asking employers to top-up workers contributions and will also make it compulsory for all adults to be members of the fund.
In the financial year ended June 2020, the NHIF collected Sh60.81 billion from the 8.998 million members and paid out Sh54.3 billion in claims.
Currently civil servants and security agencies are the only ones who currently use biometric identification which means that frauds have been able to use fake identities to seek medical care.
NHIF currently uses biometric identification for civil servants and security agencies alone and therefore providing window for non-contributors to use fake identities to seek medical care.