HCPAN Connect targets Nigeria’s fragmented health data crisis

By Matthew Johnson

The Health Care Providers Association of Nigeria, HCPAN, has launched a digital platform aimed at tackling Nigeria’s fragmented healthcare data system, with stakeholders saying the initiative could improve health insurance claims, continuity of care and evidence-based planning.
Known as HCPAN Connect, the platform is designed to create a common digital link between healthcare providers, Health Maintenance Organisations, HMOs, regulators, government and patients, allowing healthcare data to be exchanged and aggregated through a central system.
Speaking at the launch, President of HCPAN, Dr Austin Aipoh, said reliable healthcare data was critical to effective planning and achieving universal health coverage.
He said the platform would enable private hospitals, pharmacies, laboratories, physiotherapists, nurses and other healthcare professionals to digitise their operations and connect with other stakeholders across the health sector.
According to him, HCPAN Connect would also allow providers to obtain authorisation codes for health insurance services, manage aspects of their businesses and contribute information to a central healthcare data repository.
Aipoh said the platform would further support telemedicine, enabling specialists outside Nigeria to participate in the treatment of patients in the country.
“I personally speak out that platform like this will support telemedicine, allowing specialists outside Nigeria to participate in the treatment of patients in the country and assist local healthcare professionals,” he said.
He added that the initiative would be rolled out from Lagos before being extended to other cities across the country.
The Chairman, Health and Managed Care Association of Nigeria, HMCAN, Dr Osumah Abdulkadri, described the platform as a potential turning point for the health insurance industry, particularly in addressing the problem of disconnected healthcare data.
Abdulkadri said HCPAN Connect could operate like a switch in the financial services sector by providing a common point through which healthcare stakeholders could exchange information.
He explained that HMOs needed accurate data to determine appropriate premiums, understand cost-recovery tariffs, work effectively with healthcare providers and plan for the populations they underwrite.
He said the platform could also reduce the burden on government agencies that currently have to deploy personnel to different healthcare facilities to collect information.
“If we have an exchange that makes the providers digitally transformed, it is very easy for us to speak the same language. Standards will be very clear, guidelines will become easy to comply with, and the more you have clarity because of this, it creates credibility,” Abdulkadri said.
He noted that healthcare information was currently scattered across different systems that often could not communicate with one another.
“As we speak, we have fragmented data everywhere, which are actually not speaking to one another. Because these details are fragmented and there is no point of connection, it is difficult for anybody to make use of the data to improve Nigerians’ problems,” he said.
Also speaking, immediate past National President of HCPAN and National Adviser on Health Insurance in Nigeria, Dr Jimmy Arigbabuwo, said the initiative was developed to address longstanding problems involving claims, rejected bills and delayed payments between healthcare providers and HMOs.
Arigbabuwo said HCPAN Connect would provide a common platform where key stakeholders could interface transparently and resolve areas of disagreement.
He said the platform went beyond electronic medical records to incorporate telemedicine, claims management, data analysis and mechanisms to support timely payment of claims.
“Aggregation of healthcare data would also enable Nigeria to engage international partners and institutions with evidence-based information rather than relying on estimates,” Arigbabuwo said.
Meanwhile, Co-founder of Sevenz Healthcare, Dr Gbenga Ogunfowokan, said patients would also benefit from the platform through improved continuity and access to care, regardless of whether they paid out of pocket or were covered by HMOs, state insurance schemes or the National Health Insurance Authority, NHIA.
Ogunfowokan said the platform would connect federal and state governments, regulators, HMOs, healthcare providers, pharmacies, laboratories and patients.
“This initiative is to provide a centralised source of healthcare information that can support policymaking, improve coordination among stakeholders and strengthen efforts to achieve universal health coverage in Nigeria,” he said.