title: National health insurance scheme: How receptive are the private healthcare practitioners in a local government area of Lagos state.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) is one of the health financing options adopted by Nigeria for improved healthcare access especially to the low income earners. One of the key operators of the scheme is the health care providers, thus their uptake of the scheme is fundamental to the survival of the scheme. The study reviewed the uptake of the NHIS by private health care providers in a Local Government Area in Lagos State.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess the uptake of the NHIS by private healthcare practitioners.
  
  
  METHODS
  This descriptive cross-sectional study recruited 180 private healthcare providers selected by multistage sampling technique with a response rate of 88.9%.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Awareness, knowledge and uptake of NHIS were 156 (97.5%), 110 (66.8%) and 97 (60.6%), respectively. Half of the respondents 82 (51.3%) were dissatisfied with the operations of the scheme. Major reasons were failure of entitlement payment by Health Maintenance Organisations 13 (81.3%) and their incurring losses in participating in the scheme 8(50%). There was a significant association between awareness, level of education, knowledge of NHIS and registration into scheme by the respondents P-value < 0.05.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Awareness and knowledge of NHIS were commendable among the private health care providers. Six out of 10 had registered with the NHIS but half of the respondents 82 (51.3%) were dissatisfied with the scheme and 83 (57.2%) regretted participating in the scheme. There is need to improve payment modalities and ensure strict adherence to laid down policies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Health and Primary Care, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Mushin, Nigeria.
authors.forename: Campbell Princess
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Christina
authors.affiliation: MTN Nigeria, Customers' Service Department, Lagos, Nigeria.
authors.forename: Taiwo Toyin
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Latifat
authors.affiliation: Exogen Consulting Ltd, Lagos, Nigeria, Public Health and Research Unit, Lagos, Nigeria.
authors.forename: Nnaji Feziechukwu
authors.initials: NF
authors.lastname: Collins
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistics, Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, Nigeria.
authors.forename: Abolarin Thaddeus
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Olatunbosun
keywords: Knowledge; NHIS; private private healthcare providers; uptake