Aarogyasri: Private hospitals yet to sign MoU or are still following old tariffs

It remains to be seen whether the revamped Aarogyasri rates will convince corporate hospitals to come onboard the health insurance scheme.

Hyderabad: The recent revision of treatment costs by the State government for various medical conditions covered under Aarogyasri Health Insurance scheme has raised hopes for patients of receiving treatment at top corporate hospitals.

However, it remains to be seen whether the revamped Aarogyasri rates will convince corporate hospitals to come onboard the health insurance scheme.

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At present, almost all the major corporate hospitals in Hyderabad are either yet to finalize MoU with Aarogyasri or are providing treatment to patients for specific ailments based on old health insurance tariffs. A majority of them are yet to take a firm call on the issue.

“It is good sign that the State government is willing to revise Aarogyasri health insurance tariffs. However, private hospitals will be able to take a decision when complete details related to the revision of tariffs emerge,” said Group Chairman and Non-Executive Director, Quality Care India Ltd, Dr K Hari Prasad.

A major difficulty that super-specialty hospitals face to join Aarogyasri and other State-sponsored insurance schemes is the flooding of international private equity funds. Except for one or two, all major top private super-specialty hospitals have attracted huge investments from international investment firms.

The infusion of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has enabled corporate hospitals to expand and establish new state-of-the-art facilities in the IT corridor of Gachibowli-Madhapur. Based on various estimates, in the last three years alone, private hospitals in the country have attracted foreign investment of nearly Rs 27,000 crore from various global private equity majors.

In addition to cost of treatment, persons familiar with the issue point out that Aarogyasri is resource intensive, which forces private hospitals to maintain separate departments, additional staff and exclusive hospital wings for patients. “It is difficult to take pictures and videos at every stage of patient’s treatment and then submit them for bill reimbursement. Such rules also raise questions of privacy and make patients uncomfortable,” officials said.