His Excellency the Minister of Health and Chairman of the Council of Cooperative Health Insurance (CCHI), Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabeeah, headed the 88th meeting of CCHI at its premises in Riyadh; in order to follow up the latest updates in the Cooperative Health Insurance Industry. At the beginning of the meeting, Dr. Al-Rabeeah welcomed the council members and thanked them for all their substantial efforts which they exerted and resulted in the progress of applying the system among the targeted category of employees in the private sector. Dr. Al-Rabeeah, as well as the council members, expressed their deepest grief on the loss of one of the council members, Mr. Ahmad bin Abdul Rahman Al-Abdelaaly – May Allah bestow mercy upon him - who passed away, meanwhile lauding his perfect performance during the representation of the Ministry of Commerce. Dr. Al-Rabeeah, also, prayed for Allah to forgive the deceased, and to grant his family and relatives patience and solace.
After that, the CCHI Secretary-General, Dr. Abdullah bin Ibrahim Al-Shareef, reviewed the topics on the agenda. The council approved the agreement between the CCHI Secretariat and the General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI), to exchange the information electronically for the benefit of the users from both sides.
Thereafter, the Council has approved the general budget for the fiscal year 2013 after an extensive discussion about all financial, administrative and technical aspects. Among the most salient feature of the budget was the increase of the training share for achieving the development and preparation of human cadres; so as to enable them to meet the needs of work and to keep up with the current, rapid developments and changes. Besides, as far as the constant improvements and enhancements for the services offered to the users of the portal are concerned, the budget also placed an emphasis on the development of e-services, which will enable these users to accomplish a variety of tasks and procedures by themselves with flexibility and high speed.
Furthermore, The Council approved renewing the contract with Al-Elm Information Security Company which provides online registration service, and through which the procedures of the General Department of Passports (GDP) can be linked with the residence permit “Iqama” (for issuance or renewal), in terms of the availability of data about the health insurance of the resident who wants the procedure. Thus, the data of health insurance can communicated between both parties electronically. The agreement aims to organize exchanging data of the resident’s correct health insurance document, so that the CCHI can send it through another partner, Medunet Company, which offers this service. And then Al-Elm Information Security Company receives the data online so as to transmit it to the GDP systems at the National Information Centre (NIC) after verifying its validity.
Subsequently, the Council reviewed an extensive report on the latest updates on the project dubbed: “Saudi Health Insurance Pre Authorization Requirements” (SHIPAR), whereupon a specialized team conducts comprehensive field surveys on health care providers and insurance companies to find out the mechanisms of service, consider all proposals, as well as to provide solutions meant to improve the services provided to insureds.
It is noteworthy that the cooperative health insurance system aims to provide and organize the health care for all employees in the private sector, as well as their families. the Council of Cooperative Health Insurance (CCHI) is established under the chairmanship of the Minister of Health and includes in its membership representatives at the level of Deputy Minister from the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Labor, the Ministry of Finance and National Economy, and the Ministry of Commerce, in addition to representatives from The Council for Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry, cooperative insurance companies, and the private health sector, aside from two representatives from other government health sectors. The appointment of CCHI members and renewing their membership are conducted under decrees issued by the Council of Ministers. The Council of Cooperative Health Insurance manages some tasks as supervising the application of the cooperative health insurance system, preparing a draft of the regulations, issuing the necessary decisions to regulate the variable matters relating to the application of the provisions of the system, qualifying the cooperative insurance companies, and the adoption of health facilities that provide security services of cooperative health insurance. CCHI holds its sessions regularly in order to develop and improve the legislative and supervisory frameworks organizing the health insurance sector. Therefore, CCHI pays a great attention to the health insurance industry. Being one of the most active and dynamic sectors, health insurance requires a constant reviewing and improving for the mechanisms of insurance transactions which takes into account simplifying procedures to an extent that contributes to upgrading the cooperative health insurance industry and fulfilling the aspirations of all insurance-related parties.