Healthcare providers knowledge, perception and utilization of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) at a Public Tertiary Health Institution in Lagos

Abstract

Background: National Health insurance scheme is a form of health insurance aimed at achieving effective and efficient health care for all including
the providers. The level of knowledge and perception of healthcare providers play a vital role in ensuring their registration and subsequent utilization of the scheme. This is important as it helps the government to achieve universal health coverage for its citizen.

Objective: To assess healthcare providers knowledge, perception and utilization of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) at a public tertiary health institution in Lagos.

Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out among 307 healthcare providers of a public Tertiary health institution. A proportionate  stratified random sampling technique was used to select respondents in this research. Questionnaire was used for data collection and analysed with Epi  info version 7.0. Associations were tested with Chi-square and Fischer's exact test with a level of significance set at 5%.

Results: The mean age of respondents was 32±8.6years, majority were females 214(69.7%) and most had tertiary level of education 195(63.5%). Almost  three-quarters 291(71.3%) had a good knowledge and 211(68.7%) had a good perception of NHIS. Of the 197(64.2%) registered respondents' majority  82.7% utilize the scheme. Age and educational status had a statistically significant association with NHIS utilization with P values 0.007 and 0.035 as there  was a linear increase in utilization of NHIS as educational status increased.

Conclusion: The study showed a good knowledge and good perception of  NHIS amongst respondents. Despite the overall good knowledge of the scheme among respondents only about two-third of them are registered in the  scheme. However, the utilization of the scheme amongst the registered respondents (82.7%) was found to be satisfactory.