The Acting Director of Claims at the National Health Insurance Authority, Mr. Perry Nelson has assured service providers that with the introduction of the NHIA’s Claims Processing Centre, delays in claims processing and payment to service providers would be a thing of the past. According to him, one of the steps the Authority considered to solve the problem of delayed payments to service providers was to pay them 40 percent of submitted claims upfront before vetting and subsequent payment effected for the remaining 60 percent, however with the new system there would not be the need to pay the 40 percent since the processing of claims is faster. He said claims from the three Teaching Hospitals and the ten regional Hospitals in the country would be processed by the electronic Claims Processing Centre, adding that with the new system those hospitals would no longer go through the stress of waiting for over three or more months before their claims were vetted and paid. Speaking at a workshop to sensitize senior personnel of service providers from the ten Regional Hospitals and the three Teaching Hospitals on the NHIA’s pilot Claims Processing Centre in Accra Wednesday, the Ag. Director of Claims hoped that with the reforms, claims would not delay beyond the stipulated four-week waiting period to cause undue hardship to providers. Mr. Perry Nelson said the centre would have a Customer Service Unit dedicated to liaising with service providers for the resolution of all claims issues. “We at NHIA recognize that timely payment of claims to our providers is vital to the survival of your businesses and the delivery of quality healthcare services to our members,” he noted.