Hygeia HMO works in partnership with various affiliates to improve on its ability to fulfil its mission of delivering stress-free access to great healthcare.

Guaranty Trust Assurance (GTA)

The affiliation with Guaranty Trust Assurance Limited, a subsidiary of Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, began in 2005 and is aimed at providing easier access to health insurance along with insurance cover that goes beyond healthcare.

The partnership between Hygeia HMO and GTA means that each branch in the Guaranty Trusty Bank network is a port for receiving information about the Hygeia Health Plan (which is aimed at individuals and small business) and signing up to the plan. With the Guaranty Trust Bank network consisting of almost 70 branches across Nigeria , it brings our health cover closer to all Nigerians. The Hygeia Health Plan with Assur also has the added benefit of bundling Hygeia's health insurance with life and accident cover provided by GTA, making it an attractive and comprehensive plan.

In addition to this, the partnership with GTA allows for a sharing of knowledge, processes and resources which will continue to innovate and augment the service provided by Hygeia HMO.

Lagoon Hospitals

Lagoon Hospitals is a sister company to Hygeia HMO and as such is the flagship hospital in the Hygeia HMO provider network. Being among the first multi-specialist private hospital in the country Lagoon Hospital brings its over 20 years of experience in primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare to bear on the way healthcare is managed right across the Hygeia HMO network of over 150 hospitals. Many of the quality initiatives introduced into the Hygeia HMO system are as a result of this affiliation.

Lagoon Hospitals provides a full range of healthcare services - health assessments for executives, pediatrics, maternity care, dermatology, physiotherapy among other specialities - across three locations in Lagos : Apapa, Ikeja and Victoria Island .

Lagoon Hospital Apapa, the largest of the sites, has a 50-bed in-patient facility with 3 operating theatres, an intensive care unit, laboratory, radiology, 24 hour pharmacy and a large outpatient facility. With about 25 consultants covering 20 different specialties and various modern diagnostic facilities, the hospital can provide for the most tertiary care needs.

Lagoon Hospitals has a strategic partnership with Apollo Hospitals Group , India 's most trusted healthcare group. Apollo Hospitals with its over 35 hospitals and 6,400 beds has a wealth of experience in hospital management and Lagoon Hospitals has been reaping the benefits of their advice on healthcare operations, training of medical specialists and management staff , equipment and premises upgrades.

The Apollo Hospitals relationship will contribute significantly to the enhancement of service delivery at Lagoon Hospitals with the mandate of the partnership also including Telemedicine support for certain specialisms, exchange programmes for training staff and the provision of off-shore treatment for patients requiring complex care.

The Hygeia Community Health Plan (HCHP): An Overview

The Hygeia Community Health Plan (HCHP) is the newest programme of Hygeia Nigeria Limited by way of business development. It is a pilot community based health insurance scheme, aimed at selected communities in Lagos and Kwara States. The overriding characteristic of the communities being, low income and otherwise vulnerable groups. It is hoped that that the programme will be successful and in the future made available to other communities across Nigeria.

The aim of the scheme is to scale up access to quality healthcare of low income communities through a mechanism of public private partnership and as a direct result support MDGs 1 & 6 (Millennium Development Goals) i.e. poverty reduction and halting the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria & tuberculosis. The scheme is supported by the Dutch Government through the Health Insurance Fund, and implemented through Pharmaccess Foundation and Hygeia.

The Health Insurance Fund (HIF) subsidizes the cost of healthcare for enrollees by paying over 90% of the actual cost of healthcare premiums per annum. The HIF will support similar schemes in several African countries over the coming years starting with Nigeria.

The target group in Lagos is the community of market women and men who are traders in markets in central Lagos and who would not ordinarily have access to quality healthcare because of associated high costs.

The farming community of Shonga in rural Kwara State is the second target group.

The scheme operates on the prepaid premise of ‘One payment per person per year’. This payment affords an enrollee access to medical care whenever the need arises within the course of the year. The amount payable per enrollee per annum is N800 in Lagos and N200 in Kwara. The rest of the cost of healthcare, up to 95% of the amount payable by the enrollee, is paid for by the Health Insurance Fund (HIF).
 
Recruitment of enrollees into the scheme involves sensitization, mobilization and finally enrolment. Once registered and enrolled into the scheme, they are entitled to medical care at no extra cost at any of the selected HCHP provider hospitals both in Lagos and Kwara.

Emphasis is placed on family registration so that entire families are given the opportunity to access affordable health care.  It is therefore not only the market women who are beneficiaries, but also their husbands, wives and children.
 
The HCHP provider hospitals were selected after a thorough due diligence exercise by Pharmaccess Foundation. The hospitals apart from meeting certain minimal standards for good quality healthcare delivery also had to be near enough to the target group in terms of proximity to work or home.

Contracted Provider Network

These are clinics and hospitals which are affiliated with the Hygeia HMO and provide healthcare to subscribers to any of Hygeia's health plans. The HMO has contracted with 176 providers (161 hospitals, 12 dental clinics & 3 eye clinics) in 85 cities and 36 states. And the number continues to grow. With the above statistics and qualified healthcare professionals, Hygeia HMO is well positioned to maintain the lead in the managed healthcare industry.