_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ *Corresponding author: E-mail: summitpharm@yahoo.com, gracenele@yahoo.com; E-mail: bo.ogbonna@unizik.edu.ng; Journal of Advances in Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences 13(3): 1-9, 2017; Article no.JAMPS.32767 ISSN: 2394-1111 Assessment of National Health Insurance Scheme’s (NHIS) Effectiveness in a Tertiary Teaching Hospital in Southeast Nigeria N. Ele Grace 1* , O. Ogbonna Brian 2 , M. Ochei Uche 1 and U. Odili Valentine 1 1 Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacy Practice, University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria. 2 Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacy Management, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria. Authors’ contributions This work was carried out in collaboration between all authors. Authors NEG, MOU and UOV designed the study. Authors NEG and OOB performed the statistical analysis, wrote the protocol and wrote the draft of the manuscript. Authors NEG and OOB managed the analyses and interpretation of the study. Authors NEG and OOB managed the literature searches while authors MOU and UOV supervised the work. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Article Information DOI: 10.9734/JAMPS/2017/32767 Editor(s): (1) Franciszek Burdan, Experimental Teratology Unit, Human Anatomy Department, Medical University of Lublin, Poland. Reviewers: (1) Ndie Elkenah, Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki, Nigeria. (2) Edward Kwabena Ameyaw, University of Cape Coast, Ghana. (3) Chunlin Jin, Shanghai Health Development Research Center, China. (4) Lucy Mecca, Kenya. Complete Peer review History: http://www.sciencedomain.org/review-history/19256 Received 14 th March 2017 Accepted 25 th May 2017 Published 30 th May 2017 ABSTRACT Background: The fundamental concept of health insurance is risk sharing and burden bearing. The scheme is undermined by limitations ranging from very frequent use of the services more than necessary by enrollees, to cost escalation, poor management, and skimming. Assessment of services is a quality control measure in patients’ care and service delivery. It helps to identify gaps for improvement of care and services. Objective: This study assessed the effectiveness of NHIS from the perspective of healthcare providers and managers involved in its implementation to understand the nature of services, and gaps with the view to exploring ways of improving its service delivery. Methods: The study was a descriptive cross-sectional survey using focused group discussion Original Research Article