Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36906560›Full record

ArticleBMC health services research2023

Effect of mobile phone-based health insurance contribution payment system on retention of coverage in the National Health Insurance Scheme in Ghana: an evaluation study.

Eric Nsiah-Boateng, Mariam Musah, Collins Danso Akuamoah, Francis Asenso-Boadi, Francis-Xavier Andoh-Adjei, Bernard Okoe Boye

Open access · goldFull text read
In one paragraph

Article in BMC health services research, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
2.0field-weighted citation impact, top 13% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed, 7 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Eric Nsiah-BoatengNational Health Insurance Authority, Accra, Ghana. ensiah-boateng@st.ug.edu.gh.
Mariam MusahNational Health Insurance Authority, Accra, Ghana.
Collins Danso AkuamoahNational Health Insurance Authority, Accra, Ghana.
Francis Asenso-BoadiNational Health Insurance Authority, Accra, Ghana.
Francis-Xavier Andoh-AdjeiNational Health Insurance Authority, Accra, Ghana.
Bernard Okoe BoyeNational Health Insurance Authority, Accra, Ghana.
Ghana Health Service · GHUniversity of Ghana · GH

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundGhana introduced a mobile phone-based contribution payment system in its national health insurance scheme (NHIS) in December 2018 to improve the process of enrolment. We evaluated the effect of this digital health intervention on retention of coverage in the Scheme, one year after its implementation.

methodsWe used NHIS enrolment data for the period, 1 December 2018-31 December 2019. Descriptive statistics and propensity-score matching method were performed to examine a sample of 57,993 members' data.

resultsProportion of members who renewed their membership in the NHIS via the mobile phone-based contribution payment system increased from 0% to 8.5% whilst those who did so through the office-based system only grew from 4.7% to 6.4% over the study period. The chance of renewing membership was higher by 17.4 percentage points for users of the mobile phone-based contribution payment system, compared to those who used the office-based contribution payment system. The effect was greater for the informal sector workers, males and the unmarried.

conclusionsThe mobile phone-based health insurance renewal system is improving coverage in the NHIS particularly for members who hitherto were less likely to renew their membership. Policy makers need to devise an innovative way for new members and all member categories to enrol using this payment system to accelerate progress towards attainment of universal health coverage. Further study needs to be conducted using mixed-method design with inclusion of more variables.

Indexed as

Cell PhoneInsurance, HealthGhanaGovernment ProgramsHumansMaleNational Health ProgramsDigital healthGhanaHealth insuranceImpact evaluationRetention of coverage

Identifiers

PMID36906560
PMCPMC10007802
OpenAlexW4323971751

What OpenQuestion holds

Textfull text, public
LicenceCC BY
measurements read23
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.