Centre asks insurance firms to speed up settlement of health claims

NEW DELHI: The Centre has asked insurers and hospitals to take measures such as expediting the onboarding on National Health Claims Exchange, devising standardised treatment protocols, common empanelment norms and seamless cashless claims processing to make healthcare affordable and accessible, according to an official statement issued on Friday.

Secretary, Department of Financial Services (DFS), M. Nagaraju, chaired a meeting to discuss the issues of medical inflation and rising premium costs.

The meeting was attended by representatives from General Insurance Council, Association of Healthcare Providers in India (AHPI), healthcare industry representatives from Max Healthcare, Fortis Healthcare, Apollo Hospitals and insurers like New India Assurance Company Limited, Star Health Insurance and Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company, along with several others.

Further, he emphasised that having standardised hospital empanelment norms across all insurers would ensure consistent cashless access for policyholders, streamline the service terms, improve operational procedures and reduce administrative burden on hospitals.