Evaluation of Bayelsa Health Insurance Scheme (BHIS) and Healthcare Delivery in Bayelsa State, Nigeria (2017-2022)

Abstract

This study examined the Bayelsa Health Insurance
Scheme and Healthcare Delivery in Bayelsa State
from 2017 – 2022. This was achieved through (i)
investigating the level of enrollees’ accessibility to
healthcare under BHIS; (ii) ascertaining the quality
of healthcare provided to enrollees under BHIS; (iii)
examining how satisfied the enrollees are with
healthcare under BHIS; and (iv) assessing the
effectiveness of the referral system under BHIS. The
study was theoretically anchored on the Healthcare
Service Utilization Model and Systems Theory. The
descriptive survey research design was adopted for
this study. The study revealed that the accessibility
level for good healthcare is moderate; the quality of
care was also revealed to be on the average, the level
of enrollees’ satisfaction under BHIS was revealed to
be low and the referral system under BHIS was
revealed to be moderately effective. It is hereby
concluded that BHIS performance is not bad, but
needs serious improvement. The study therefore
recommends among others, to look at accessibility in
terms of the availability of requisite drugs, medical
personnel and time frame within which the enrollees
are attended; measure quality of care provided under
BHIS against World Health Organization (WHO)
standard; orientate service providers that enrollees
are not charity seeking people but people who
provided security for eventuality; and to improve the
referral system to reduce the delay caused by
technological issues and administrative procedures of
getting code.