On July 11 the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Ministry of Health (MOH) and Vietnam Social Security (VSS) signed a record on the discussions of a project to improve the management of health insurance payments in Vietnam.

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The project, development and strengthening of the management of provider payment methods and basic health service packages, reimbursed by Health Insurance Fund in Vietnam, will be implemented for 2 years, starting from October.

Universal health coverage and universal health insurance are both targets set by the Vietnamese Government in the National Strategy for Protection, Care and Improvement of People’s Health in the period of 2011- 2020, with a vision towards 2030.

In order to achieve these targets, one of the essential solutions is to establish an appropriate health insurance system. Currently, health insurance coverage has reached 81.7 per cent of Vietnam’s population, half of which is comprised of poor citizens and other groups whose insurance is paid out of the State budget.

Approximately 20 million Vietnamese people have yet to enrol in the government-sponsored health insurance scheme and many of them are disadvantaged or facing difficulties. The major challenge is how to provide the necessary and sufficient healthcare services to all Vietnamese citizens and increase the rate of enrolment, while maintaining the financial sustainability of the health insurance system.

Under the project, Japanese experts and their Vietnamese counterparts will focus on identifying the optimal provider payment method, developing a benefit package based on situational analysis, improving the Health Insurance Claim Review Information System and increasing enrolment in social health insurance.

The optimal payment method should contribute to improving healthcare quality, ensuring equitable payment among healthcare service providers and increasing the effectiveness of management and the use of the health insurance fund./.

VNF/VNA