Volume 19, Issue 1, November 2015, Pages 8–14
Peter Twum1, Lingzhong Xu2, Lesego Selotlegeng3, and Yangyang Cheng4
1 Department of Social Medicine and Health Services Management, School of Public Health, Shandong University, Jinan, China
2 Department of Social Medicine and Health Services Management, School of Public Health, Shandong University, Jinan, China
3 Department of Social Medicine and Health Services Management, School of Public Health, Shandong University, Jinan, China
4 Department of social medicine and health management, school of public health, Shandong University, Jinan, China
Original language: English
Copyright © 2015 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Background: Ghana's pursuance of extensive reforms of her health care system to improve access, increase efficiency and ensure quality dates back to the colonial era. The recent attempt made to achieve this is the introduction of National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) which has resulted in the increase of health care utilization. The aim of this study is to find out how this increase has affected client's perception of quality of health care delivery in Ghana under the NHIS.
Method: A cross-sectional survey was used to assess client perception of quality under the NHIS. In a bid to gather information on fresh client experience at the hospital, exit interview was conducted using structured questionnaire. Moreover, at the point of service delivery, observation was utilized to collect data on customer and service provider interaction.
Results: Albeit the service delivery fall short of the Ministry of Health (MoH) quality standards, most of the patients were satisfied. Regarding health facilities, clients need to be educated on their entitlement especially by health insurance schemes, on what they are entitled to whenever they visit health facilities.
Conclusion: Generally, the introduction of the NHIS has resulted in increased level of utilization of health services utilization, however this has not been reflected in the quality of service delivery. Since the patients are not aware of their entitlements, they are unable to harvest the maximal benefits of the services.
Author Keywords: Patient, Perception, Quality, Health Insurance, Healthcare.
Peter Twum1, Lingzhong Xu2, Lesego Selotlegeng3, and Yangyang Cheng4
1 Department of Social Medicine and Health Services Management, School of Public Health, Shandong University, Jinan, China
2 Department of Social Medicine and Health Services Management, School of Public Health, Shandong University, Jinan, China
3 Department of Social Medicine and Health Services Management, School of Public Health, Shandong University, Jinan, China
4 Department of social medicine and health management, school of public health, Shandong University, Jinan, China
Original language: English
Copyright © 2015 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Background: Ghana's pursuance of extensive reforms of her health care system to improve access, increase efficiency and ensure quality dates back to the colonial era. The recent attempt made to achieve this is the introduction of National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) which has resulted in the increase of health care utilization. The aim of this study is to find out how this increase has affected client's perception of quality of health care delivery in Ghana under the NHIS.
Method: A cross-sectional survey was used to assess client perception of quality under the NHIS. In a bid to gather information on fresh client experience at the hospital, exit interview was conducted using structured questionnaire. Moreover, at the point of service delivery, observation was utilized to collect data on customer and service provider interaction.
Results: Albeit the service delivery fall short of the Ministry of Health (MoH) quality standards, most of the patients were satisfied. Regarding health facilities, clients need to be educated on their entitlement especially by health insurance schemes, on what they are entitled to whenever they visit health facilities.
Conclusion: Generally, the introduction of the NHIS has resulted in increased level of utilization of health services utilization, however this has not been reflected in the quality of service delivery. Since the patients are not aware of their entitlements, they are unable to harvest the maximal benefits of the services.
Author Keywords: Patient, Perception, Quality, Health Insurance, Healthcare.
How to Cite this Article
Peter Twum, Lingzhong Xu, Lesego Selotlegeng, and Yangyang Cheng, “Client's Perception of Quality of Health Care Under the National Health Insurance in a District Hospital in Ghana - A Cross-Sectional Study,” International Journal of Innovation and Scientific Research, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 8–14, November 2015.
