Avon advocates improved hospitals/HMO partnership

The Managing Director and the Chief Executive Officer of Avon, Adesimbo Ukiri during the first edition of the HMO’s first Providers Quality Forum Ukiri said: “We believe that hospitals have a crucial role to play if Nigeria is going to take health insurance to the great heights that we all want. HMOs can make all […]

The Managing Director and the Chief Executive Officer of Avon, Adesimbo Ukiri during the first edition of the HMO’s first Providers Quality Forum
Ukiri said: “We believe that hospitals have a crucial role to play if Nigeria is going to take health insurance to the great heights that we all want. HMOs can make all the promises in the world to enrolees, but it is through the hospitals that they (enrolees) will experience our service. In a sense, you can say that the hospitals are the taste of the pudding for enrolees. But we also understand that historically, HMOs have not partnered with hospitals the way they are supposed to. At Avon HMO, our hospitals are our partners, and that is why we are taking the lead in forging a mutually beneficial partnership with our care providers through this event.”
Avon’s Head, Providers Services Unit, Dr. Banjo Oni while expressing delight at the huge turnout at the event stated that the Forum was the first in a series of engagements intended to improve the quality of the service delivery that Avon enrolees enjoy from hospitals under the HMO’s network.
“We have more than 200 representatives from our partner hospitals across the country in attendance and it has been an open exchange of ideas between our partner hospitals and Avon. We intend to do this every quarter and then go round the country with it,” he said, adding, “Currently, we are looking at getting over 10 million subscribers into Avon HMO. But, in order for us to get to that level, we have to make health insurance attractive to those who are currently using it.”