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M-TIBA
Launched in 2016, M-TIBA is Kenya’s leading mobile health platform. It was developed by Carepay, a healthcare technology company that provides digital payment and healthcare management solutions in Africa, and two founding partners: Safaricom and PharmAccess Foundation.
M-TIBA was created in response to the challenge of access to healthcare in Kenya, particularly for low-income individuals who are often unable to afford healthcare services. Through innovation and technology, the platform enables users to save money in a mobile health wallet, which can then be used to pay for healthcare services at partner facilities.
M-TIBA allows interaction between insurers, healthcare providers, and individuals, therefore enabling accurate, transparent, and predictable information flow across the healthcare value chain, which has vastly improved efficiencies and contributed to lower healthcare costs.
With over 4.7 million registered users, 4,552 connected healthcare facilities, and half a million medical treatments administered to Kenyans, M-TIBA is continuously proving itself a dominant player in the nation’s health sector.
The success of M-TIBA has enabled it to expand into the Nigerian market, a hard-to-reach aspiration for Kenyan companies. It is already present in three states with about 6,000 members and 600 healthcare providers registered.
With Rita Okuthe at the helm as Chair, the Board is leveraging its exceptional transformational leadership abilities to propel the platform towards remarkable growth. Fueled by a passion for innovation, its focus extends beyond expanding the user base to encompass venturing into untapped African markets, and unleashing more groundbreaking products.
When consumers sign up for M-TIBA, they create a mobile wallet that they can use to save money specifically for healthcare expenses, which can then be used to pay for healthcare services at participating facilities. Users are also able to access their medical records. Gertrude’s Children’s Hospital, Aga Khan University Hospital, AAR Healthcare and MP Shah Hospital are among some of the healthcare facilities connected to the platform.
M-TIBA has partnered with numerous insurance providers to offer individuals, corporate groups and MSMEs affordable health insurance plans, allowing them access to medical services without worrying about the high costs. A customer-obsessed brand, M-TIBA understands that each consumer has unique healthcare needs, and has thus personalised its platform to allow one to choose the services they need and customise their healthcare plans according to their preferences. Consumers are also empowered to manage and track expenditure. Some of the insurers already signed include the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), Jubilee, Britam, AAR and APA, to mention a few.
Additionally, M-TIBA offers loan solutions for healthcare providers, providing them the chance to expand their businesses, and for individuals and groups, to easily access quality and affordable healthcare services. For instance, Cash Advance, a service launched by M-TIBA in collaboration with the Medical Credit Fund (MCF), offers unsecured loans of up to KES 40 million shillings as working capital to private facilities. Since its establishment in 2017, more than 600 healthcare facilities have benefitted from the Cash Advance service, with over 5,000 loans administered.
In 2022, M-TIBA partnered with the Kenya Association of Private Hospitals (KAPH) in a bid to further enhance their healthcare financing capabilities.
Furthermore, M-TIBA provides insurers and healthcare facilities partnership opportunities that come with enormous value adds. For example, these businesses are able to unlock their growth potential by reaching new markets; there is improved patient care since processes are streamlined allowing providers to focus on their core function; and digitising the whole claim process goes a long way in reducing fraud, lowering administration costs, enhancing efficiency, and ensuring payments are done on time, thus bringing down the cost of insurance administration.
M-TIBA provides a range of digital health services such as telemedicine consultations, medication reminders, and health information resources. In November 2022, M-TIBA partnered with Sweden’s online doctors’ platform BYON8, allowing M-TIBA members to access healthcare services online from specialists on BYON8.
M-TIBA is integrated with the mobile money platform, M-PESA, to enable seamless payment and transfer of funds for healthcare services.
M-TIBA’s impact as a top-of-mind and customer-obsessed brand is rooted in its ability to leverage technology and collaboration to address the challenges of healthcare in Kenya, leading to improved health outcomes, financial inclusion, and better access to healthcare services.
