(Source: Viet Nam Social Security)

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Ministry of Health (MoH) and Vietnam Social Security (VSS) have signed an agreement on a project to improve the management of health insurance payment in Vietnam.

The project, “Development and strengthening of the management of provider payment methods and basic health service package reimbursed by Health Insurance Fund in Vietnam”, is being implemented for two years, starting from October.

Universal health insurance is an target 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 to 2030.

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

About 20 million Vietnamese people have not yet enrolled in the government-sponsored health insurance scheme and many of them are disadvantaged or are facing difficulties. The major challenge is how to provide necessary and sufficient healthcare services to all Vietnamese and to increase the rate of enrollment while maintaining financial sustainability of the health insurance system.

Under the project, Japanese experts and Vietnamese counterparts will focus on identifying the optimal provider payment methods, developing a benefit package based on situational analysis, improving the Health Insurance Claim Review Information System, and increasing enrollment 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 use of the health insurance fund.

International Cooperation Department