Kitovu Patients Pre-Payment Scheme: Notes from a Visit 27-28 June 2002

This case study describes a hospital-based health care financing product. The paper states that:

• ‘Kitovu Patients’ Pre payment Scheme’ (KPPS) is a hospital-based model of health care provision operating in Masaka, Uganda;
• The ‘Medical Missionaries of Mary’ who were in charge of the hospital championed the concept to establish a health care prepayment scheme within the hospital;
• Their objective was to enable the access of low income families to quality medical care while increasing utilization of the hospital without increasing collection difficulties;
• The hospital oversees the program, absorbs the insurance risk, and manages the scheme as a cost centre under the ‘Kitovu Hospital Complex’;
• The hospital takes on the risk in an effort to both generate new patients and shift their collection mechanisms from cash-based to pre-pay methods.

The paper describes:

• The beginning of the scheme and its growth;
• Details of the scheme in terms of product, pricing, place, process, people and promotion;
• KPPS’s institutional structure, management and governance, partnerships, members’ levels of satisfaction, risk management, and SWOT analysis.

The study concludes by stressing the importance of:

• A large percentage of group clients;
• A quality service provider;
• Convenience of access;
• Follow-up with clients;
• Generating an understanding of insurance and risk-pooling.