| dc.description.abstract | Registration for the health insurance is a critical process in the uptake and subsequent
utilization of the health insurance and low enrollment leads to poor service utilization
and this increases household health expenditure on health (OOP) and there is the need
to assess the actors that affects registration process. The study objective was to
establish the role of registration in health insurance on utilization of healthcare
services among NHIF members in Isiolo County. Specific objectives included: to
assess the influence of accuracy of data captured, knowledge of registration details,
communication about registration process and the time taken to complete the
registration process on utilization of healthcare services in Isiolo County, Kenya. This
was cross-section study design. The target population were all NHIF insured
households in Isiolo County. The study sample size 384 households who had NHIF
health insurance participated and who had resided in Isiolo County for at least 12
months. The study used purposive sampling technique hereby only those respondents
that had national health insurance were included int the study. A semi-structured
questionnaire was used to collect data. The tool was pre-tested in the same county and
Cronbach alpha of 0.7 as obtained and an ethical approval was obtained from KeMU
Science, Ethics, and Research Committee and a permit for the research from the
NACOSTI and the Isiolo County Health Office respectively. Quantitative data was
coded, entered and analyzed using SPSS v25. Results revealed that these socio-
demographic factors, marital status, occupation status and number of the member of
households were all-significant and they influenced utilization of healthcare services
using the NHIF insurance cover. Majority 357(93.5%) and 339(88.7%) knew how to
select health facility and the benefits entitled to them respectively. Nearly all
361(94.8%) cited that their personal data was correctly captured in the NHIF
database. Error in personal included wrong date of birth / age, wrong name. Majority
283(74.1%) pointed that it took them less than one hour to register for their NHIF
insurance while most 303(79.3%) indicated that they got their membership cards on
time. knowledge of the registration details, communication of registration process and
time taken for registration were significant in determining the utilization of healthcare
services among the respondents and was significant(p<0.1). Knowledge of
registration details (requirements) a great role in the enrollment to the of health
insurance programmes and thus NHIF should emphasize on the mass education on the
necessity of enrollment in health insurance schemes (public or private) and the
various requirements that are required to complete the process through the use of
effective channel of communication to the end users/beneficiaries of those health
schemes. Parastatal such as NHIF Isiolo branch and other private insurance firms
should carryout mass sensitization frequently through various channels such as
newspaper, TV and radio adverts on importance of enrollment and registration and
their associated insurance package benefits advantages and as this would increase
their health insurance utilization. Health services providers such as Isiolo County
Referral hospital management team should communicate to their clients on
importance of enrollment and registration information details to the end consumer in
order to enroll for the insurance programmes on entails contents, time and place of
registration as this would greatly reduce the consumers OOP. | en_US |
