Evaluating the Impact of the National Health Insurance Scheme of Ghana on Surgical Care

July 19, 2018 updated by: University of California, San Francisco

Evaluating the Impact of Health Insurance on Financial Risk Protection for Surgical Care: an Analysis of Ghana' Insurance Scheme at Korlebu Teaching Hospital

Ghana, a Low-Middle Income Country (LMIC) situated in the heart of West Africa started a national health insurance scheme in 2003.The scheme was designed to provide a comprehensive benefit package inclusive of surgical care and to protect against the need to pay out of pocket at the point of service. As of 2013, close to 40% of the population of Ghana was actively enrolled and ongoing plans to expand coverage by the government. This study tests the extent to which the national health insurance scheme of Ghana provides financial risk protection against catastrophic payments as a result of access to surgical care.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Completed

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Detailed Description

It is estimated that 11%-33% of the global burden of disease is attribute to surgical conditions. Yet, globally 3.7 billion people face financial catastrophe if surgical care is needed. Ghana, a country of 27 million people has a 14-year experience with a national health insurance scheme (NHIS) that provides coverage for 95% of the health conditions afflicting Ghanaians and includes access to surgical care. Despite much progress in providing Universal Health Coverage through NHIS, prior work shows that up to 18% of insured households make catastrophic health payments for routine care which is largely unaffordable for the poor. Particularly in Ghana where 1 out of 4 individuals live on less than 1.25 dollars per day. More importantly in 2015, the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery called for national surgical plans that provide 100% coverage against catastrophic health expenditures as a result of seeking surgical care.

The premise of Dr. Okoroh's GloCal project is to describe the surgical conditions that are included in the health insurance scheme and to evaluate whether insurance protect surgical patients against catastrophic health payments through a single institutional review at Korle-bu Teaching Hospital. With this work she hopes to develop a set of recommendations to the ministry of health and the national health insurance authority on how to improve health-care financing for surgical care in Ghana.

Early results of our study show that NHIS provides coverage for most common surgical conditions including symptomatic hernia, breast cancer, and appendicitis. 70% of the total cost of surgical care was covered by NHIS, yet 56% of insured individuals made catastrophic payments for surgical care. Surgery is unaffordable as on average insured individuals spent close to 40% of their annual income on surgical care. Particularly the coverage of medicines, supplies, imaging, and other ancillary services are sparse which are necessary to the provision of surgical care. Our recommendations include; NHIS increasing the proportion of the total cost of surgical care covered for the poor and addressing the gaps in coverage of ancillary services. Further work includes understanding how households economically cope with making payments and the contribution of borrowing and other financing mechanisms in reducing the burden of cost. Our new study characterizes the cost of trauma care which is a major source of disability and injury for young adults in Ghana. Efforts are being made to engage policymakers on healthcare reform in Ghana.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
203

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Ghana
      • Accra, Ghana
        • Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Sampling Method

Probability Sample

Study Population

The study was conducted in the Korle Bu teaching hospital, which is situated in the southwestern part of Accra, the capital of Ghana. The hospital receives and treats patients referred from other centers all over Ghana and also patients referred from other neighboring West African countries. The population of Accra, which is largely cosmopolitan, has inhabitants who are natives and a large population who have migrated from other parts of the country on account of economic reason as well as educational pursuit. It is also home to a significant population who are nationals of neighboring West African countries and a small proportion of the population being from Europe, Asia and North America. Inhabitants are therefore mostly urban or suburban with a small proportion of rural and slum dwellers. The Department of Surgery at the Korle Bu hospital has four general surgical units and sees a variety of cases in general surgery encompasses colorectal, hepatobilary, and oncology

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • All adult patients admitted to the general surgery ward between February 1st and October 1st 2017.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients treated on the subspecialty wards
  • Individuals less than 18 years of age.
  • If unable to provide informed consent

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Out of Pocket Expenditure for Surgical Care
Time Frame: During the hospitalization or episode of surgical care (respondents are interviewed prior to discharge from the hospital, on average less than two weeks)
Out of pocket expenditure for surgical care is defined as all of the direct and indirect expenses incurred by an individual seeking surgical care at Korlebu Teaching Hospital during the study time period.
During the hospitalization or episode of surgical care (respondents are interviewed prior to discharge from the hospital, on average less than two weeks)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Catastrophic Health Expenditure for Surgical Care
Time Frame: During the hospitalization or episode of surgical care (respondents are interviewed prior to discharge from the hospital, on average less than two weeks)
Catastrophic Health Expenditure for Surgical Care is defined as out of pocket expenditures which exceed 20% of the individual's income, 10% of the household expenditures, or 40% of net food expenditures
During the hospitalization or episode of surgical care (respondents are interviewed prior to discharge from the hospital, on average less than two weeks)

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
University of California, San Francisco

Collaborators

Collaborators

An organization other than the sponsor that provides support for a clinical study. This support may include activities related to funding, design, implementation, data analysis, or reporting.
Fogarty International Center of the National Institute of Health
Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH)
University of California Global Health Institute - UCGloCal Program
Brigham and Womens' Hospital, Center for Surgery and Public Health
UC Global Health Institute

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: Juliet Okoroh, MD, University of California, San Francisco

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
February 1, 2017

Primary Completion (Actual)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
October 1, 2017

Study Completion (Actual)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
November 12, 2017

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
June 26, 2018

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
July 19, 2018

First Posted (Actual)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
July 27, 2018

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
July 27, 2018

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
July 19, 2018

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
July 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • D43TW009343 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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