M-TIBA’s uptake transformed by COVID-19 – Capital FM
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As such, over 4.7 million people have registered on M-TIBA and can use their mobile phone to send, save or spend on healthcare/ COURTESY

Kenya

How COVID-19 Has Transformed M-TIBA’s Uptake

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 23 – CarePay Kenya, which operates the M-TIBA platform, says it has seen accelerated demand of its digital healthcare solutions since the onset of the pandemic. 

Capital Business spoke to the company’s Managing Director Moses Kuria on a variety of issues among them accelerated demand of their services, health inclusivity in Kenya and more, as below:

Did COVID-19 influence the uptake of your digital solution? Can you quantify this influence?

We have seen an accelerated demand among payers and providers to digitize the management of their healthcare schemes.There is growing recognition among insurers that mobile phone offer patients an attractive channel to reach customers.

Over 4.7 million people registered on M-TIBA can now use their mobile phone to send, save or spend on healthcare. We have recorded over 425, 682 hospital visits paid using M-TIBA and over Sh2.6 billion in medical payouts every year.

In 2020, we passed the milestone of processing over 721,000 digital treatment claims on the platform. This is improving claims processing times (down to as little as 48 hours) – and boosting clinics and hospitals, whose incomes have been badly affected by COVID-19.

We have over 3,216 healthcare providers registered on the M-TIBA platform. Over 800,000 families have been registered for Kenya’s national scheme – NHIF through M-TIBA on the Government of Kenya’s UHC (Universal Health Coverage) pilot.

To date, KES 3 billion has been disbursed from Cash Advance a product under Medical Credit Fund (MCF) on the M-TIBA platform to provide financing to healthcare providers who have faced severe disruption to their revenues from COVID-19. Cash Advance is offered in cooperation with our partner, Medical Credit Fund.

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Moses Kuria, Managing Director, CarePay Kenya and Dr. Patrick Gatonga, Jubilee Health Insurance during the partnership announcement in Meru. Jubilee Health Insurance has announced a collaboration deal with CarePay to roll out digital insurance products on the M-TIBA platform.

At the customer level, describe to us how the pandemic changed M-TIBA’s uptake?

We conducted a nationwide survey in August 2020 and we found out that majority of Kenyans prioritized on essentials – especially food and healthcare. Despite this, many individuals kept away from the hospital for fear of COVID-19 infection. Healthcare providers experienced a drop in revenues and footfall for inpatient and outpatient services.

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As the country went into lock down last year, we witnessed a dramatic fall in transactions over M-TIBA. Since then, we have seen a steady increase in transactions, such that by October last year, we were seeing our highest ever volumes in transactions. This was driven by people returning to hospitals and the growth in our insurance business.

Are there new measures you adopted during the pandemic to cater to the needs of Kenyans?

In May 2020, M-TIBA partnered with Kenya Healthcare Federation (KHF) to develop SMS based service to identify essential healthcare workers providing essential services during curfew hours.

The partnership helped KHF members to carry on with their duties when transiting lockdown areas or during curfew hours. Over 2,000 staff of KHF member organizations enrolled for the service.

CarePay also partnered with GiveDirectly during the pandemic to disburse over KES 27.5M to 7,600 vulnerable individuals identified on the M-TIBA platform. Each recipient received Kshs 3,000 for a period of four months.

What is the role of technology in driving health inclusivity in Kenya and the region?

It is estimated that about 1.5 million people in Kenya will be pushed into poverty each year due to illness related expenses. In Kenya, two out of five people who need care do not seek treatment from hospitals because they lack the money.

Mobile phone has transformed the way we bank, transfer money, shop and interact in Africa. However, the healthcare sector still lags far behind – despite its greatest potential.

M-TIBA, is creating new ways to access and finance healthcare through mobile phones. The platform administers healthcare payments between insurers, patients, and healthcare providers.

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M-TIBA combines digital payments with real time medical and financial data collection, to help make healthcare safer and more transparent for patients and healthcare providers.

The M-TIBA platform is a powerful tool to build the key elements of trust: predictability, accountability, transparency, partnerships.

How is the mobile enabling/ supporting universal health coverage?

M-TIBA is designed to improve payments across the healthcare value chain. M-TIBA pays for health services through its mobile platform, allowing payers (including insurance companies, donors and government) to efficiently disburse funds, providers (hospitals and clinics) to get paid quicker and citizens to access healthcare more easily.

We are using technology to drive health inclusivity through enabling services that improve access through digital payments, appointment reminders and medication alerts.

We are partnering with leading payers to offer digital health products that will increase insurance penetration in Kenya. We have recently partnered with Jubilee Insurance and Britam Insurance to develop affordable digital health products that will drive uptake of insurance among Kenyans.

We are also delivering new tools to improve the quality of care through point-of-care decision support, remote consultation, training and case management software. We are using information sharing and digital medical records to improve enterprise management and help healthcare providers to operate sustainably.

M-TIBA is integrating all health stakeholders in a single platform- replacing a mishmash of legacy systems and building digital information flows for the large and smaller providers respectively.

How receptive are healthcare payers and providers to digital health innovations? Has the pandemic influenced this?

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We have seen an accelerated demand among payers and providers to digitize the management of their healthcare schemes.  There is growing recognition among insurers that mobile phones offer patent and attractive channel to reach customers.

Since 2020, we have signed three major Kenyan insurers (AAR, Britam and Jubilee) onto the platform. Selected policy holders with these insurers can now access their insurance benefits through M-TIBA. This delivers a more intuitive customer experience and helps these insurers reduce management costs.

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