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Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia Mali, Nigeria, The Philippines and Vietnam -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
www.jointlearningnetwork.org
Workshop Proceedings
JLN Population Coverage Technical Initiative Workshop
Manila, Philippines
December 8-10, 2014
1. Executive Summary
2. Background on JLN Population Coverage Technical Initiative Workshop
3. Workshop Sessions and Outputs
4. Next Steps
Annex 1: Participant Feedback on Workshop
Annex 2: JLN Population Coverage Technical Initiative Next Steps - Potential Options for New Work
Annex 3: Philippine’s Department of Social Welfare and Development Assessment Form
Workshop participants visit the Rizal Medical Center as part of the site visit organized by PhilHealth.
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1. Executive Summary
The Joint Learning Network for Universal Health Coverage (JLN) Population Coverage Technical Initiative organized
a three-day workshop in Manila, Philippines from December 8-10, 2014. The workshop convened representatives
from nine JLN member countries to share experiences and lessons in defining, identifying, and enrolling poor and
vulnerable populations in health coverage and to plan for future jointly produced work. The workshop, hosted by
PhilHealth and the World Bank, built on earlier engagement between JLN Initiative members who exchanged
background information about their experiences through virtual presentations and discussions via a Google Group.
The first day of the workshop focused on targeting methodologies, challenges, and innovations. The workshop
kicked off with an introduction to the JLN, participant introductions, and an overview of workshop objectives. Caryn
Bredenkamp, Senior Economist at the World Bank set the stage for the three days by presenting a framework on
targeting methodologies. This was followed by country presentations on innovations in targeting and enrollment of
hard-to-reach populations. Gregorio Rulloda, Vice President for Member Management Group, represented
PhilHealth and presented on the Philippines’ major reforms to target the informal sector, poor, and indigent
populations. Two representatives from Ghana’s National Health Insurance Authority, Ben Kusi, Director of
Membership, Provider Relations and Regional Operations and Collins Akuamoah, Deputy Director of Membership,
shared a presentation on Ghana’s work on defining, targeting, and enrolling disadvantaged populations. In the
afternoon, JLN representatives met in country pairs, and had active discussions about their countries’ challenges
and solutions to in-practice implementation of targeting methodologies. Next, representatives introduced their pair
country and its targeting experience to the broader group.
On the second day of the workshop, PhilHealth hosted site visits to Rizal Medical Center, a health center in Manila,
and a local health insurance office. At the medical center, participants gained an in-depth view of the Onsite Rapid
Enrollment (ORE) system, which directly enrolls critically poor populations seeking care at hospitals in PhilHealth. At
the PhilHealth office participants learned about the scheme’s primary care program, which provides enrollment,
data verification, consultation, and preventive and promotive services to users.
On the last day of the workshop, participants engaged in a fruitful discussion on enrollment from the perspective of
beneficiaries (the user perspective). JLN members met in their country groups to prepare a visualization of the
user’s experience enrolling in health insurance, which documented the trajectory of users, the barriers
encountered, and ways in which the scheme mitigates these challenges. Participants then presented the
visualization to the group to share highlights about their country experiences. The next session of the day focused
on strategic communications, which is a topic that has recently received interest across the JLN. Two JLN members
presented on their experiences: Collins Akuamoah spoke about strategic communications challenges that Ghana
faced when introducing capitation to the Ashanti region and recent solutions; and Dr. Nikka Hao of PhilHealth
presented on PhilHealth’s experience using strategic communications to roll-out the new primary care benefit,
TSeKaP (“check up”) introduced during the site visit to PhilHealth on Day 2.
JLN members closed the workshop by brainstorming and documenting ideas for future Population Coverage joint-
learning work. To follow up on workshop activities, the JLN Population Coverage Technical Initiative facilitators
(R4D) have further developed topics and activities identified by workshop participants on the third day of the
workshop and shared them with the group for feedback and prioritization.
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2. Background on JLN Population Coverage Technical Initiative Workshop
The Population Coverage Technical Initiative convened the first virtual meeting of representatives of its Technical
Collaboration Team (TCT) on Wednesday, March 26, 2014. One of the outcomes of this meeting was an agreement
to plan an event for representatives to meet in-person to engage on topics related to expansion of health coverage
for poor, informal sector, and other disadvantaged or hard-to-reach groups.
Participants met in-person for a three-day workshop in Manila, Philippines from December 8-10, 2014. The
workshop was organized by the Joint Learning Network (JLN) Population Coverage Technical Initiative in
collaboration with Access Health, and was hosted by PhilHealth and the World Bank office of the Philippines. The
workshop convened representatives from nine JLN member countries and built upon an earlier engagement
between JLN members who exchanged background information on their experiences through virtual presentations
and discussions. This early online engagement among JLN members proved to be instrumental in setting the
foundation for the workshop and enabled workshop participants to have rich in-person exchanges about country
experiences in expanding coverage to target populations.
The workshop emphasized the sharing of country experiences in reaching disadvantaged populations as part of
national efforts to achieve UHC and set out to have participants do the following:
Share JLN country experiences defining, identifying, and enrolling target populations to expand health
insurance coverage, and strategies for improving upon these processes
Understand the user’s experience enrolling in JLN country health insurance schemes, identify user challenges,
and share strategies to facilitate user enrollment
Learn about PhilHealth and its recent experience implementing innovative targeting programs
Identify future areas of focus for the Population Coverage Technical Initiative and collaboration opportunities
across other JLN initiatives
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3. Workshop Sessions and Outputs
Workshop Day 1
Targeting Methodologies
The workshop kicked off with an introduction to the JLN, introductions among participants, and an overview of
workshop objectives. Caryn Bredenkamp from the World Bank set the stage for the workshop by presenting a
framework on targeting methodologies, which is summarized in the table below.
Box 1: Summary of Presentation: Targeting for UHC- Concepts and Approaches
Presenter: Caryn Bredenkamp, Senior Economist, World Bank
Rationale for targeting: Targeting methods are used to maximize efficiency of resources, as well as efficiency of the overall
program.
Costs of targeting: To develop and implement targeting approaches, programs will incur various types of costs that may
include: administrative costs (time, transportation), incentive costs (will there be an incentive for beneficiaries to change
their behavior?), and social costs (if membership is only available to the poor, will this be stigmatizing?), among others.
Types of errors: Errors in targeting are usually classified as either Type I or Type II errors. Type I errors are referred to as
errors of exclusion, whereby people eligible for benefits are omitted from the program. Type II errors are errors of
inclusion, or leakage, where benefits are provided to those who don’t need them and are not eligible.
Types of targeting methods: The most common targeting methods are described below. Each of these approaches has
strengths and weaknesses that should be considered by decision-makers (see presentation for more information).
Demographic targeting: Based on characteristics of individuals or groups associated with poverty or vulnerability,
particularly vulnerability to illness (e.g. children under 6).
Means testing: Income and asset based testing approaches
Proxy means testing: Approach to assessing income, which considers a broader definition of poverty and usually
considers other household characteristics that can serve as proxies for monetary income
Community-based targeting: Relying on local leaders or organized groups for identification
Self-targeting: Individuals self-select to join a program, which is designed to appeal to those who need its benefits
Guidance on choice of method: Generally, many of the targeting methods presented above are applicable to health
programs, including health insurance schemes. The choice of which targeting method to select is complex and in some
cases it may be most efficient to use a combination of methods. When considering which method to employ, decision-
makers should consider which method is most appropriate given the context and the target population, as well as the costs
and benefits (e.g. error reduction) associated with the design, implementation, and management of the targeting approach.
•Discussion of targeting methodologies
•Presentation on targeting innovations by representatives of PhilHealth and Ghana's National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA)
•Country targeting experiences group work and presentations
•Site visit briefingDay 1
•Site visit to Rizal Medical Center and PhilHealth local health insurance office
Day 2•Site visit debrief
•User experience group work and presentations
•Discussion on strategic communications with presentations by representatives of PhilHealth and Ghana's NHIA
•Brainstorming on JLN Population Coverage Initiative future activities
Day 3
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Targeting and Enrollment: Country Presentations
The targeting methodologies presentation was followed by country presentations on innovations in targeting and
enrollment of hard-to-reach populations. Gregorio Rulloda, Vice President for Member Management Group,
represented PhilHealth and presented on the Philippines’ major reforms to target the informal sector, poor, and
indigent populations. Two representatives from Ghana’s National Health Insurance Authority, Ben Kusi , Director of
Membership, and Collins Akuamoah, Deputy Director of Membership, shared a presentation on their work on
defining, targeting, and enrolling disadvantaged populations in Ghana.
Box 2: PhilHealth’s Targeting and Enrollment
Defining target populations and membership categories.
PhilHealth redefined its membership categories to ensure
alignment with legal definitions of populations, and to
ensure that key target populations were represented.
Identification. The indigent and the poor are targeted
through the Department of Social Welfare and
Development’s centrally-managed poverty identification
system, the National Household Targeting System for
Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR). Within the informal sector,
organized groups are identified through the PhilHealth
iGroup program, which engages organized groups in rural
areas to serve as marketing, enrollment, and collection
agents.
Enrollment. Enrollment in PhilHealth is by family. Various
types of enrollment processes are used to capture different
populations.
Poor/indigent: PhilHealth offers in-person enrollment in
scheme offices and enrollment camps in rural areas.
Onsite Enrollment at select hospitals to capture the
indigent at the point-of-care.
Organized groups: iGroup focuses on providing
convenient and easy enrollment and a flexible payment
schedule (quarterly, semi-annual, or annual) for the
informal sector.
Other groups: Individual enrollment at scheme offices.
Formal sector: Automatic enrollment.
Interventions/strategies. Recent strategies to improve
targeting have included:
Inclusion of household help as a category of dependents in formal sector beneficiaries
Removal of documentary requirements for enrollment of indigent and poor
Onsite Rapid Enrollment (ORE) in hospitals; being scaled
up nationally
Box 3: Ghana NHIA’s Targeting and Enrollment
Defining target populations and membership categories.
The NHIA targets all residents for enrollment, including the
poor and vulnerable.
Identification. NHIA enrolls disadvantaged populations in
pro-poor programs, including: those in orphanages, children
in government school feeding programs, and others. NHIA
policy also confers automatic eligibility for premium
exemption for beneficiaries of the Livelihood Empowerment
Against Poverty (LEAP) programme. LEAP uses a community-
based process to identify members and District Social Welfare
officers administer a questionnaire at the household level to
verify eligibility.
Enrollment. Enrollment in the NHIA is by family. Various
types of enrollment processes are used to capture different
populations:
Formal sector workers: Institutional registration.
Indigent, poor, informal sector: Registration agents lead
enrollment via house-to-house visits and office
registration. Members of the informal economy eligible
to pay a premium pay directly to the district office or
through the agents.
Other groups: In-person enrollment at scheme offices. Biometric enrollment was piloted in 2014 in Greater Accra region. Currently, it is implemented in six regions and will be fully rolled out nationally by middle of 2015.
Interventions/strategies. Recent strategies to improve
targeting have included:
Enrollment of existing organized groups of vulnerable populations to bypass stringent definition of the “indigent” and rigid documentary requirements
Improved enrollment form to capture additional data on beneficiaries
Piloting and rolling out biometric enrollment mechanism
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Targeting and Enrollment: Report-Out by JLN Country Pairs
In the afternoon of Day 1, JLN representatives met in country pairs and had active discussions about their countries’
challenges and solutions to in-practice implementation of targeting methodologies. Representatives then introduced
their pair country and its targeting experience to the broader group, presenting one challenge, strategy, and unexpected
learning they gleaned from discussions with their peer country (summarized in table below).
Table 1: Report-Out by JLN Country Pairs
Malaysia (presented by Nigeria)
Challenge: Ensuring sustainability of funding
Strategy: Foreigners pay more than nationals for services
Unexpected learning: Malaysia is working towards creating
a single payment system. As part of this, Malaysia’s
Ministry of Health is 1) considering how to harmonize
public and private health service provision 2) considering
implementing a social-health-insurance-like scheme
Nigeria (presented by Malaysia)
Challenge: 1) Limited funding for scheme coverage of
beneficiaries 2) Leakages in enrollment
Strategies and solutions: 1) Creating new UHC fund 2)
Biometric registration for new members for the primary
school pupils program
Unexpected learning: Mobile money mechanism used to
collect premium contributions from informal sector
Indonesia (presented by Kenya)
Challenge: Manual enrollment process slower than online
Strategy: BPJS is planning to implement sanctions for the
informal sector to enroll in health insurance. For example,
requiring BPJS membership to obtain and renew a passport
and driver license
Unexpected learning: The major challenge faced by the
scheme with enrollment is administrative capacity to
manage the large number of new member applications
Kenya (presented by Indonesia)
Challenge: Enrollment is compulsory for formal sector, but
voluntary for all other groups. There is a lack of incentive for
the poor, near poor and informal groups to enroll
Strategy: Innovative partnerships between Kenya’s NHIF and
1) mobile network providers to collect premiums via mobile
money; 2) National Registration bureau to require
membership to renew work permits and licenses
Unexpected learning: NHIF is designing a program to provide
refugees with insurance coverage
Mali (presented by India)
Challenge: Local governments are responsible for
identifying indigent populations and contributing funds for
their coverage in the RAMED program. Mayors don’t report
the indigent to avoid paying for their RAMED coverage
Strategy: Mali is implementing a major information and
awareness campaign at national scale
Unexpected learning: Central government is delegating
responsibility to local governments
India (presented by Mali)
Challenge: Lack of incentive for HMOs to enroll populations in
rural areas
Strategy: Scheme managers place informal pressure on HMOs
to encourage enrollment of rural groups
Unexpected learning: Biometric enrollment camps have been
very successful.
Vietnam (presented by Ghana)
Challenge: Corruption leads to errors of inclusion in
targeting; commune leaders responsible for identifying the
poor according to defined poverty line sometimes
incorrectly report individuals as “poor” to provide them with
benefits and premium exemption
Strategy: Individuals identified as poor have their names
placed on a list, which is published in a public area (reduces
the risk of leakages)
Ghana (presented by Vietnam)
Challenge: Registration Agents occasionally enroll new
members incorrectly as indigents members to offer them
premium exemption.
Strategy: Use of biometric enrollment technologies
Unexpected learning: Ghana allocates 17.5% of the funding
from the VAT towards its national health insurance scheme
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Unexpected learning: Strong political will to extend health
coverage to poor and near-poor populations
Workshop Day 2
Site Visit
PhilHealth, in its role as workshop hosts, planned a site visit to Rizal Medical Center and to a PhilHealth local health
insurance office. The visit to the medical center provided participants with an in-depth view of the Onsite Rapid
Enrollment (ORE) system, described in the box below, which enrolls critically poor populations seeking care at
hospitals into PhilHealth. At the PhilHealth office, participants also learned about the implementation of the
Philippines Anti-Red Tape Act, which requires government agencies (including PhilHealth) to display a Citizen’s
Charter that outlines the standards of services to individuals. PhilHealth also presented on the scheme’s primary
care benefit, TsEkAp (“Check-Up”), which provides enrollment, data verification, consultation, and preventive and
promotive services to users. The site visit provided participants with a rich understanding of PhilHealth programs,
including both the processes used by the scheme for targeting and enrolling beneficiaries (discussed on workshop
day 1) and the experience of users (discussed on workshop day 3).
Box 4: Philippines Onsite Rapid Enrollment (ORE) system
According to the Philippines’ No Balance Billing policy, Filipino citizens who are “critically poor” (defined as in the poorest 25%)
are exempt from paying medical cost and are eligible for free health coverage under PhilHealth’s Sponsored Program. In April
2013, PhilHealth launched a pilot in select hospitals of its Onsite Rapid Enrollment (ORE) system to capture and expedite
enrollment for the critically poor eligible for scheme coverage into the PhilHealth Sponsored Program. The ORE Program was
developed in response to a mandate from the government (Joint Order No 2013-0031, ‘Enrollment of the Critically Poor under
the Sponsored Program of the national health Insurance program at Point-of-Service”), as part of efforts by President Aquino’s
administration to expand health coverage to the poorest Filipino citizens.
ORE: step-by-step process
ORE database is used to determine the patient’s membership status within PhilHealth (whether they are already a
member, dependent, other).
If the patient is unenrolled in PhilHealth, a Medical Social Welfare Assistance Officer (MSWAO) conducts an interview and
completes an assessment form (form included in Annex 3) to determine their need for assistance, taking into account both
financial status and other factors, such as the severity of illness.
If eligible, the new member is enrolled to PhilHealth on-site using the ORE system. The data is sent to the MSWAO, who
transmits the information to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
The premium and medical costs for the visit are covered by the health facility. After the patient receives care, the hospital
submits a claim to PhilHealth, which is paid to the health facility within 30 days (expedited claims reimbursement). The
patient is not billed for any healthcare costs, even those beyond the amount reimbursable by PhilHealth.
DSWD conducts follow-up household visits and interviews to validate the eligibility of the new enrollee. Once validated,
the enrollee’s information is kept on file to ensure continued premium sponsorship. If the enrollee is not deemed to
qualify for the Sponsored program during this process, they will be asked to pay the requisite premium amount in the
following year.
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Box 5: PhilHealth Presentation: 10 things to know about the implementation of the 2007 Anti-Red Tape Act
In April 2013, the Philippines passed the Anti-Red Tape Act (Republic Act No. 9485), which requires government
agencies (including PhilHealth) to set up and display a Citizen’s Charter that states the standards of service to
individuals. The Citizen’s Charter is mandated to be displayed in the office entrance/ the most conspicuous space to
be viewed by all.
1. Applies to all government offices that provide frontline services
2. Limits number of signatures of officials to a maximum of 5
3. Requires government offices to draw Citizen’s Charter which identifies the
services offered, procedures, fees, and complaint/feedback mechanisms
4. Citizen’s Charter must be posted at main entrance/most conspicuous place
and in published materials
5. Public assistance and complaints desk should be attended even during
breaks. All officers interacting with public should wear an ID
6. All applications/requests for frontline services shall be acted upon within 5-
10 working days
7. Denial of request for access shall be fully explained
8. Disciplinary action for violating act, based on the severity of the violation
9. Head of agency is primarily responsible and accountable for implementation of
the rule
10. CSC shall conduct Report Card Survey of Citizen’s Charter
Box 5: TSeKaP: “Tamang Serbisyo para su Kalusugan ng Pamily”
In 2014, PhilHealth re-introduced its Primary Care Benefits Package under a new brand, Tamang Serbisyong
Kalusugang Pampamliya (TSeKaP – or “check-up”). The purpose of redesigning this package creating the new
brand was to make it more attractive to PhilHealth users in order to encourage them to seek preventive health
care services.
Beneficiaries: TSeKaP was first piloted for members of the Department of Education. It is now available to
PhilHealth beneficiaries and their dependents in the following membership categories: Indigent, Sponsored
Members, Organized Groups, and Overseas Workers. There are plans to scale up TSeKaP to other PhilHealth
member categories in the future.
Benefits: Covers primary preventive services, diagnostic examinations, drugs and medicines for specified
diseases.
Providers: All public and private facilities providing primary care services can provide TseKap; Participating
facilities are required to meet accreditation standards.
More information available online.
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Workshop Day 3
Site Visit Debrief
Evalyne Khamasi and Richard Sigei, representing Kenya’s National Hospital Insurance Fund, kicked off the third day
of the workshop by reviewing takeaways from the site visit from the previous day. They highlighted PhilHealth’s
Onsite Rapid Enrollment process and the No Balance Billing Policy, and discussed their relevance to the Kenyan
context. Richard commented that Kenya uses a means test to target orphans, but that there is no process to target
Kenya’s indigent. Evelyne noted that there remains some ambiguity on how to define the poor and indigent in
Kenya in general and within the context of the NHIF Sponsored Program, and that they could learn from PhilHealth
in this regard.
User Perspective
Workshop participants then had fruitful exchanges about enrollment from the
perspective of scheme beneficiaries (the user perspective). JLN members met in
their country groups to prepare a visualization of the user experience enrolling
in health insurance, which documented the trajectory of users, the barriers
encountered, and ways in which the scheme addresses these challenges.
Participants then reported out to the group to share highlights about their
country experiences, and identified some common barriers to enrollment,
which are summarized in the table below.
Table 2: Common Barriers to Enrollment in Health Insurance from
the Perspective of the Users
Evalyne Khamasi and Richard Sigei create a diagram of the enrollment user experience for Kenya’s NHIF
Outreach
“I’m in a remote location – I didn’t hear the message”
“I don’t speak the language and didn’t understand the message”
“I heard the message but it didn’t tell me what to do next”
“I heard the message but it was wrong” (distortion)
Enrollment
“Which program am I enrolled in?”
“I don’t have an ID card”
“I have to wait to access care”
“There are too many people at enrollment center – I got sick of waiting
and left / I couldn’t wait”
“It’s unfair how they classified me and they were unfriendly”
Access to care
“There is no center in my area”
“I’m at the health facility, I have insurance, but I still have to pay”
“I’m stigmatized and have to wait longer to get service”
“I can’t access/get the care I need”
Sudarto, Iwan Gani, and Widiyarti from Indonesia create a user experience map
Aiché Diarra and N’Tji Diarra discuss user experience of scheme beneficiaries in Mali’s various health insurance programs
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Strategic Communications
The next session of the workshop focused on strategic communications, which is a topic that has recently gained
interest across the JLN. Within the context of the “targeting and enrollment” theme of this workshop, strategic
communications is important for programs defining, identifying, and enrolling target populations in order to
educate and reach users, provide transparency, and build buy-in among stakeholders. The workshop facilitators
noted that the success of a strategic communications approach is contextual, and they provided a general
framework along with a set of framing questions for programs to consider:
Is the right message being communicated?
Is the right channel being used, and is it appropriate for the target audience?
Is this the right time to convey these messages? What is the best timing?
How will success be measured against programmatic and communication goals?
Following this introduction, two JLN members presented experiences from their countries to demonstrate how
strategic communications can be used within UHC reforms, and to exemplify how they are carried out in practice.
Collins Akuamoah spoke about strategic communications challenges that Ghana faced when introducing capitation
to the Ashanti region and recent solutions. Dr. Nikka Hao of PhilHealth presented on PhilHealth’s experience using
strategic communications to roll-out a new primary care benefit, TSeKaP (“check up”). The presenters shared that
both experiences started with failures, which they were able to learn from and ultimately overcome.
Box 6: Strategic Communications- Key Lessons from Ghana’s NHIA Capitation Reform
Adapt communication strategy and approach based on local context. The NHIA tailored their communication
approach and messages based on characteristics of individual districts, such as the local political context and
leadership, cultural norms, and demographics of the population (e.g. age, socio-economic status, other) and
the local health priorities.
Engage key groups and ensure buy-in and local ownership to support program implementation. The NHIA
central office staff increased the involvement of NHIA district office staff to ensure they were fully engaged in
the implementation of the capitation program
Tailor communication strategies and tools for each group of stakeholders: To reach communities, the NHIA
organized visits to each districts across the region and met with traditional leaders, opinion leaders, and
community members to inform them about the capitation program. NHIA also visited local meeting places to
spread awareness about the program and created educational dramas to inform populations about capitation.
During this process, NHIA realized the need to use common terminology (“Family Doctor”) rather than technical
jargon (“capitation”). NHIA also did targeted outreach to health providers and met with health provider groups
across the Ashanti Region to educate them on capitation and provide them with resources for effective
communication with their constituency members.
Adjust reform based on feedback from key stakeholders. Based on feedback from health providers, the NHIA
adjusted the package of services included in the capitation reform by removing maternal care services and
medicines. The NHIA also increased the capitated rate to ensure provider satisfaction.
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Box 7: Strategic Communications- Key Lessons from PhilHealth TSeKaP Program
Dr. Razel Nikka Hao, from the PhilHealth Primary Care Benefit Team, presented on the experience of “TSeKaP”
(pronounced “check-up”) and shared three lessons learned from PhilHealth:
Developing the message: PhilHealth sub-contracted a
communications firm, with support from the World Health
Organization, to conduct focused group discussions with
health users across all PhilHealth membership categories.
Based on their findings, the firm created a logo, a
“superhero” for TSeKaP communications, and a digital
communications plan.
Involving stakeholders: PhilHealth formed a technical
working group with key stakeholders involved in the TSeKaP
program, as well as with international partner organizations
(World Bank, World Health Organization, and UNICEF) to
garner external support for the program. The technical
working group conducted stakeholder interviews with
different health providers, which included the PhilHealth
Regional offices, existing primary health care providers in the
public and private sector, as well as drug outlets to identify
possible drug providers for TSeKaP. Findings from these
consultations with other groups proved to be instrumental in
defining 1) what audiences to reach 2) what messages to
convey 3) what communication channels to use to reach to deliver them.
Developing targeted information campaigns: The PhilHealth Primary Benefits Team planned a nation-wide
targeted information campaign, which included a combination of in-person orientation trainings, the
production of written materials, and also a digital information campaign. In-person orientation trainings were
held for local government units, groups of private health providers, and with local chiefs. PhilHealth worked
closely with Union of Local Authorities (ULAP) and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) of
the Philippines to plan the orientation sessions with local chiefs. The following elements were critical to the
success of these orientations:
They were conducted prior to the release of the TSeKaP program and related policies
They were interactive sessions, using a “world café” format aimed at getting feedback from stakeholders
PhilHealth compiled feedback from stakeholders into a “Favorite Asked Questions” document, which was
widely disseminated as part of the information campaigns
PhilHealth also developed a TSeKaP digital communication strategy because of the popularity of Facebook and
other social media websites in the Philippines. They identified key information platforms and sent out tailored
social media messages on a daily basis.
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Best Practices for Joint-Learning
To end the day, Stefan Nachuk, Associate Director at the Rockefeller Foundation, presented on best practices for
peer-to-peer learning based on past successes within the JLN. Stefan shared examples of past JLN work and
synthesized some key lessons learned about the process of JLN peer-exchanges:
Joint-learning is best achieved within the network when a group of committed JLN members collaboratively
develop a product/output with the aim of collectively addressing a common problem
Contributors should be a group of technical experts, practitioners, and/or policy-makers from JLN member
countries who share common objectives and face a common set of challenges
The technical topic should be narrowly defined and aligned with short-term policy priorities of multiple
countries
The product should draw from and build upon the deep expertise and practical knowledge of JLN members on
implementing UHC reforms to create a useful resource for countries within and beyond the JLN
Future Activities
This presentation framed the closing session for the workshop, during which participants brainstormed and
discussed possible topics and activities for future joint learning work related to targeting and enrolling hard-to-
reach populations. Participants identified the following three products as possibilities for future work (more
information about each product provided in Annex 2):
1. Annotated compendium of country target population definitions
2. Compilation of identification tools with case studies & comments
3. Manual on strategic communications for outreach to users
4. Next Steps
To follow up on workshop activities, the JLN Population Coverage Technical Initiative facilitators (R4D) are obtaining
feedback from workshop participants on the ideas for future activities and their prioritization, and on their personal
interest in assuming a leadership role to take forward the work. Workshop participants will decide, as a group,
which product(s) to develop collaboratively.