IMA signs pact with govt on hospitals

Pune: Indian Medical Association (IMA) signed a partnership agreement with the government on ‘Ayushman Bharat’. After three hours of negotiations recently, IMA agreed to take up major responsibility of facilitating the empanelment of small and medium private hospitals.

However, IMA officials note that the differences over the package rates of Ayushman Bharat remain. The government has agreed to revise the rates in a periodic fashion with full involvement of IMA.

In an official statement released by IMA, Dr Ravi Wankhede, National President of IMA, stated that IMA will be part of the costing mechanism. “Monthly feedback mechanisms with IMA have been put in place. All registered hospitals with 10 or more beds will be empanelled. National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers (NABH) accreditation or certification will not be mandatory,” said Wankhede. He also added that hospitals with NABH certification and accreditation will get 10 to 15 per cent more.

“Hospitals in difficult areas will be paid 10 per cent extra as compared to the Ayushman Bharat rates. Hospitals with post-graduate courses will get 10 per cent more rates. States will have the discretion to enhance another 10 per cent. Moreover, where state schemes are paying more than National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) rates, the same will be retained,” said Wankhede. The statement issued by the IMA said that concerns on human resources of hospitals will be addressed. 

“Settlement of bills and Grievance Redressal are other areas where IMA’s concerns were accommodated. IMA will be the public-private interface for NHPS. IMA is willing to shoulder major responsibility in giving input regarding costing mechanism and doing costing field studies. The major breakthrough today came when the government agreed to base revision of packages on costing studies,” said the statement.