HMCAN Wants NHIS to Name, Shame Defaulters Among HMOs
The Health and Managed Care Association of Nigeria (HMCAN) has called on the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to name and shame defaulters among Health Maintenance Organisations (HMOs).
Mr Tunde Ladele, the Chairman of the association, who made the demand in a statement on Thursday, in Abuja, said it was not possible that all HMOs were operating with total defaults.
“We challenge the leadership of NHIS to `Name and Shame’ those who are breaching standards or engaged in sharp practices instead of persistent global condemnation of all HMOs,’’ he said.
Ladele said HMCAN considered it urgent and crucial for the suspended Executive Secretary of NHIS, Prof. Usman Yusuf, to make clarifications to innocent Nigerians who have been inundated with false information.
On the re-accreditation of HMOs, Ladele noted that re-accreditation has been done successfully in the scheme without much pressure as was in the latest experience driven by Yusuf.
He said letters of non-indebtedness was introduced; healthcare facilities were instigated against HMOs amidst threats of deactivation of HMOs without reasonable justification.
“At the submission of the first report of the exercise to the Governing Council in April, 23 of the 59 HMOs were deactivated without concrete cause, as majority were compliant with set criteria. “The council felt differently and directed that exercise must be to enforce compliance with standards set by the NHIS and not to kill businesses.
“Unfortunately Prof. Yusuf considered this a gesture of connivance between the council and HMOs, publicly describing the two as `bed fellows’, and refused to release the report of the re-accreditation to council for approval till date. “HMCAN will like to reiterate that it is not possible that all HMOs are operating with total defaults.
“We therefore challenge the leadership of NHIS to `Name and Shame’ those who are breaching standards or engaged in sharp practices instead of persistent global condemnation of all HMOs,’’ he stressed. He added that the NHIS has the statutory authority, the operational mandate and instruments to enforce compliance in the industry, noting that the current bitterness and acrimony in the young industry is unnecessary and avoidable.
Ladele noted that Yusuf has a leading item named `HMOs must do‘ crusade which was the refunds the HMOs were making to NHIS and the HMOs complied to save the industry. He said the NHIS boss arrived on his assignment with a mindset to undermine the HMOs, which was neither professional nor operational but personal.
Source: Vanguard News
