Server Crash at Health Insurance Board Wipes Out Thousands of Medical Claim Documents

Kathmandu — The Health Insurance Board (HIB) has lost thousands of claim documents submitted by hospitals and health institutions across Nepal due to a server failure. The loss of data has stalled payments worth over Rs 18 billion owed to service providers.

According to an official notice issued by the Board’s Information Technology Chief, Suresh Singh Tinkari, documents uploaded between the month of Baisakh 1 and mid-Ashar, 2081 must be re-uploaded within 15 days. Additionally, files uploaded from month of Shrawan 1 to mid-Ashoj are reportedly inaccessible due to ongoing storage issues.

The letter, sent to all 485 service-providing institutions under the national health insurance program, acknowledges that the disruption has severely impacted the claim settlement process. In the letter, it is stated that it is imperative that the documents be re-submitted to enable pending payments.

The Health Insurance Board has officially confirmed the server crash and said that efforts are underway to resolve the problem. Meanwhile, in a bid to manage the mounting backlog, the Board has also called for applications to hire 180 temporary staff on a three-month contract.

Currently, 485 health institutions are registered under the insurance program — 404 government-run, 33 community-based, and 48 private facilities. The government has already committed to clearing all arrears by the upcoming fiscal year, but with the latest technical failure, service providers fear further delays in payments that are critical to sustaining operations.