The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Government has extended the deadline for bids to operate National Health Insurance’s (NHI) public insurer for a second time to November 21, in a bid to ensure Bahamian groups are not “disadvantaged” by Hurricane Matthew.

The bid deadline has already been extended once, from August 22 to November 7, and the Christie administration has now granted interested parties a further two weeks.

“Due to the passage of Hurricane Matthew through the Bahamas and its impact to personal and professional organisations, the Government of the Bahamas, after careful consideration, has agreed to extend the acceptance of bidder proposals,” a notice published on the NHI website said.

Emmanuel Komolafe, the Bahamas Insurance Association’s (BIA) chairman, told Tribune Business in an interview that the sector was informed the extension was granted to give Bahamian parties more time to finalise bids in Matthew’s wake.

“The deadline for submission of bids/proposals for the management of the public insurer has been extended by a further two weeks to November 21, 2016, in the wake of Hurricane Matthew,” he said.

“We were advised that the extended deadline is designed to ensure that local bidders or companies are not put at a disadvantage due to the recent storm. It should be noted that the initial timelines established were already tight and seen by many as being ambitious.”

When it came to the NHI scheme’s implementation, which the Government wants to execute in early 2017, Mr Komolafe said there was “much work” remaining to be done by all parties.

He added that the tender for NHI’s core information technology (IT) system had yet to be issued, although the Government appeared to be considering “interim” solutions.

“One of the most important aspects of the NHI scheme is the IT component due to its role in ensuring operational efficiency, fraud risk management and data protection, among others,” Mr Komolafe said.

“Additionally, the IT system or platform is of great interest to service providers and administrators that may wish to participate in the NHI scheme. We are aware that the RFP for Core IT System has not been issued, but an interim solution may be under consideration, albeit that this raises a number of other issues.”

Mr Komolafe added that Bahamian health insurers, who will be known as regulated health administrators (RHAs) under NHI, were keenly interested in the IT system and how it will link with the scheme’s major players.

“The question from potential RHAs has been centred around how any IT system implemented will interface with the system of medical service providers, administrators and the NIB,” Mr Komolafe said.

“An efficient workflow and the ability to automate the process will determine the customer experience of participants. If an interim IT solution is put in place, then we will have to ensure that once the core (permanent) IT system is implemented, the migration project does not lead to compromise of the data integrity, customer services and confidentiality.

“We will also have to address the storage and/or hosting of the data in a secure environment, and the existence of a robust back-up and overall contingency plan. It is our expectation that these questions will be answered in the days ahead.”

The BIA chairman said that while working groups had been created to assist the drafting of regulations that will accompany the NHI Act, none had been released for consultation.

He described these as “pivotal” to NHI’s success, as “they contain the key details on how the scheme will actually work in practice”.

Mr Komolafe said BIA members were still awaiting information on their terms of reference, and how they would function as RHAs, while talks on regulations addressing NHI benefits and their co-ordination had yet to begin.

“We welcome any initiative that ensures that the quality of care delivered within the health system is improved,”he added.

“There has been increased emphasis on the strengthening of the public healthcare system as the various announcements and contract signings suggest.

“The only question that arises is whether there will be emphasis placed on strengthening the facilities and infrastructure that will be used to deliver the imminent primary care phase of NHI (as the majority of the health systems strengthening to date seems to be focused on secondary and tertiary care).”

Mr Komolafe said the BIA was working through the Universal Healthcare Stakeholder Advisory Council “to assist the Government as much as possible to ensure the proper implementation of this monumental initiative, in spite of the setback caused by Hurricane Matthew”.

“It is anticipated that the Minister responsible for NHI will be appointed and the NHI Authority established in due course,” the BIA chairman said.

“It is apparent that the Government’s priorities following the devastating storm have had to be rearranged and justifiably so. The destruction left behind requires urgent attention, and all hands on deck if our economy is to rebound and we are to rebuild together as a nation.

“Our main focus as an [insurance]industry in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew has been to expedite the processing and payment of insurance claims, so that our clients can begin to rebuild their lives and commence their journey to normalcy. This has been and remains our priority.

“I am advised that several claims have been settled and cheques issued as we deliver on the promise of financial protection to our clients as an industry.”