Emergency medical services: There is no need for intermediary to pay service providers-FG

The Federal Government has assured that reimbursement to service providers under the National Emergency Services Ambulance System (NEMSAS) will be made directly, without the use of an intermediary.

This is to allay concerns in some quarters that Health Management Organizations (HMOs) will sabotage the process by refusing to reimburse service providers under the scheme at the appropriate time.

Dr. Saidu Ahmed, the National Coordinator of the NEMSAS, announced this at a media briefing in Abuja on Monday.

It should be noted that HMOs have been in a running battle with the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in recent times over the failure to pay monies to service providers under the scheme on time.

“The payment of NEMSAS is independent of NHIS.” We are only using their ICT platform to ensure transparency, so that anyone sitting in his room can monitor the flow of money and how it reaches the service providers. The process is transparent. We are only given 48 hours; after that, if the person is an NHIS enrollee, the NHIS will take over. “At the moment, NEMSAS is independent of HMOs,” he explained.

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He explained that the NEMSAS program was designed to ensure that emergency medical care is available when and where it is needed, regardless of ability to pay.

However, Ahmed stated that the NEMSAS program would sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Federal Road Safety Corps, the Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC), the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), and the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) next week in order to improve its services.

Prof. Mohammed Nasir Sambo, Executive Secretary of the NHIS, confirmed that his Scheme would only provide NEMSAS with the necessary platform to make payments in a transparent and seamless manner, noting that no HMOs would be involved in the payment of NEMSAS service providers.

“The reimbursement under National Emergency Medical Services is not covered by the NHIS.” The NEMSAS is utilizing the NHIS platform to make payment simple.

“The issue of HMOs not reimbursing will not even be raised.” “There will be no intermediary in the payment,” he stated.

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Prof. Sambo, on the other hand, reiterated that his scheme is working hard to address all complaints raised by scheme enrollees.

While acknowledging that there are pockets of complaints from Scheme enrollees, he stated, “If you say people are complaining, it is normal.” If they do, we, as a responsible Scheme, are looking into ways to address their complaints.

“Some enrollee complaints stem solely from a lack of understanding of the NHIS processes.”