The Health Care Providers Association of Nigeria, HCPAN, has launched a digital platform called HCPAN Connect to address fragmented healthcare data and enable information exchange between providers, Health Maintenance Organisations, regulators, government and patients, HCPAN announced at the platform’s launch. Vanguard covered the event.
HCPAN President Dr Austin Aipoh said the platform will let private hospitals, pharmacies, laboratories, physiotherapists, nurses and other health professionals digitise their operations and link with the wider health sector. He said providers would be able to obtain authorisation codes for health insurance services, manage aspects of their businesses and contribute data to a central repository, according to Vanguard.
Dr Aipoh also highlighted telemedicine as a feature. “I personally speak out that platform like this will support telemedicine, allowing specialists outside Nigeria to participate in the treatment of patients in the country and assist local healthcare professionals,” he said, as reported by Vanguard.
The platform will be rolled out from Lagos before being extended to other cities, Dr Aipoh said.
Dr Osumah Abdulkadri, chairman of the Health and Managed Care Association of Nigeria, HMCAN, described HCPAN Connect as a possible turning point for the health insurance industry. He compared the platform to a financial services switch, saying it could provide a single point for stakeholders to exchange information and help HMOs determine appropriate premiums and cost-recovery tariffs, Vanguard reported.
Abdulkadri warned that healthcare information is currently scattered across systems that often do not communicate. “As we speak, we have fragmented data everywhere, which are actually not speaking to one another. Because these details are fragmented and there is no point of connection, it is difficult for anybody to make use of the data to improve Nigerians’ problems,” he said.
Immediate past national president of HCPAN and national adviser on health insurance in Nigeria, Dr Jimmy Arigbabuwo, said the platform aims to resolve longstanding problems with claims, rejected bills and delayed payments between providers and HMOs. He said HCPAN Connect goes beyond electronic medical records to include telemedicine, claims management, data analysis and mechanisms to support timely payment of claims, Vanguard reports.
Dr Arigbabuwo added that aggregated healthcare data would allow Nigeria to engage international partners and institutions “with evidence-based information rather than relying on estimates.”
Dr Gbenga Ogunfowokan, co-founder of Sevenz Healthcare, said patients would gain improved continuity and access to care whether they pay out of pocket or are covered by HMOs, state insurance schemes or the National Health Insurance Authority. He said the platform will connect federal and state governments, regulators, HMOs, healthcare providers, pharmacies, laboratories and patients, according to Vanguard.
Speakers at the launch framed the initiative as a tool for policymaking, better coordination among stakeholders and progress toward universal health coverage, Vanguard reported. The platform’s developers and industry representatives said it could reduce the need for government agencies to send staff to facilities to collect data.
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