Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi

New Delhi, Nov 14: The central government has urged insurers and hospitals to accelerate reforms aimed at making healthcare more affordable and accessible, calling for faster onboarding onto the National Health Claims Exchange, adoption of uniform treatment protocols, common empanelment standards, and smoother cashless claims processing. The directives were shared in an official statement on Friday.

M. Nagaraju, secretary of the Department of Financial Services (DFS), chaired a key meeting focused on rising medical inflation and increasing health insurance premiums. The session brought together major stakeholders, including representatives from the General Insurance Council and the Association of Healthcare Providers in India (AHPI), alongside leading hospital groups such as Max Healthcare, Fortis Healthcare, and Apollo Hospitals. Insurers like New India Assurance, Star Health Insurance, and Bajaj Allianz General Insurance were also present.

Nagaraju highlighted that implementing standardised empanelment norms across insurers would ensure uniform cashless access for policyholders, help harmonise service conditions, streamline hospital operations, and reduce administrative burdens.

He also stressed that insurers must deliver higher service standards and faster turnaround times during hospitalisation and claims approvals, ensuring that policyholders receive timely support when they need it most.

The Secretary noted that medical inflation stems from multiple cost drivers but emphasised that tighter collaboration between insurers and healthcare providers—particularly through cost control measures and standardisation—would improve transparency, enhance efficiency, and ultimately deliver better value to health insurance customers.

Among the key industry leaders participating in the discussions were Inderjeet Singh (General Insurance Council), Dr. Suneeta Reddy (Apollo Hospitals), Shivakumar Pattabhiraman (Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals), Abhay Soi (Max Healthcare), Dr. Girdhar J. Gyani (AHPI), Krishnan Ramachandran (Niva Bupa Health Insurance), Amitabh Jain (Star Health Insurance), and Meera Parthasarathy (Oriental Insurance Company), along with several other stakeholders.