A Consolidated Claims Management Centre is to be set up next month in Accra by the National Health Insurance Authority. The establishment of the centre is to address delayed payment of claims to service providers. This forms part of new strategies outlined by the Authority to deal with the recurrent problems bedeviling the health insurance scheme. The establishment of the consolidated claims management centre will be a pilot project and will manage claims from the Teaching Hospitals and ten Regional Hospitals, from July 2010. If successful, the format is expected to be rolled out in zonal claims processing centres across the country. All schemes have been asked to close accounts as a consolidated premium account which would be operational from July 2010 has been set up. Scheme managers will be required to deposit all premiums collected into a centralized account in either the Ghana Commercial Bank or Agricultural Development Bank. This would redress the current situation where more than 70% of premiums collected are not properly accounted for. Also, scheme managers will henceforth be required to produce and forward a payment plan in advance to the Authority for endorsement, before funds are released for disbursement to service providers. Officials of the Authority say this is to combat irregularities in payments arrangements. The NHIA will also introduce a standardized NHIS prescription form which requires the Personal Identification Number (PIN) of the prescriber and of the dispenser, and identifies the Scheme involved. This according to officials, is designed to check systemic abuse and fraudulent practices in the dispensing of medicines. The new measures also include the streamlining of procedures for registration under the free maternal care programme to eliminate abuse of the initiative. Following the streamlining, pregnant women would be required to register for free, first, before accessing free maternal care with effect from July 2010. Source: Joy News/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana