To attain Universal Health Coverage (UHC) where every individual has access to quality health care without suffering financial hardship at the point of use, designing, and implementing a sustainable health financing strategy is imperative. Imo State Health Insurance Agency’s (IMSHIA) mandate of providing health insurance cover to all residents of Imo places it at a position of making or breaking the move towards UHC. For the Agency to deliver on this mandate, there is the need for an efficient workforce with adequate capacity.
Through the Resilient and Sustainable Systems for Health (RSSH) project, HSCL embarked on a capacity assessment of Imo State Health Insurance Agency staff. This assessment covered 4 thematic areas including (a) General knowledge of staff and skills on State Social Health Insurance Schemes, (b) Operations capacity, (c) Communication skills, and (d) Knowledge, skills, and competencies in Health Financing. This was conducted through in-depth interviews using a structured interview guide administered on individual staff across all departments of the Agency with the objectives of; i) assessing their level of competence on these key dimensions of social health insurance schemes ii) developing a capacity building plan to aid the operationalization of IMSHIA and, iii.) providing an objective basis for the prioritization of investment in training for the staff of the agency.
Findings from the assessment showed various skills and competency gaps within the 4 thematic areas assessed. It also revealed the absence of an institutionalized capacity building plan, gaps in the deep understanding of risk determinants, utilization management as well as knowledge of key monitoring and evaluation indicators.
Based on findings from the assessment, a capacity building plan, designed to respond to all identified areas of gaps was developed.
This plan outlined themes to be taught, detailing the most appropriate mediums and approaches to deliver those learning sessions with attention to the peculiarities of the target audience. This capacity building plan was used over a period of four days to train twenty-five staff of the Agency on Health Insurance and Claims Management with emphasis on all themes identified from the capacity assessment.
To assess immediate knowledge gain, pre and post training tests were administered, the class an 18% percentage points improvement; this is expected to improve with continued practice of knowledge acquired. With this contextualized training, IMSHIA staff can now demonstrate a better understanding of the role of Health Care Financing in the move towards UHC and the strategic role their agency is poised to play in realizing the goal of providing affordable quality healthcare to all residents of Imo State. This capacity improvement is expected to translate to greater efficiency of the Agency’s workforce and effective management of the scheme.
