The Quality Council of India (QCI) is likely to ask insurance regulator Insurance Regulator Development Authority (Irda) to permit only accredited hospitals for providing medical facilities to persons covered under the insurance schemes.
The accreditation body is likely to write to Irda for prescribing only accredited hospitals to be empanelled by the insurance providers, secretary general of QCI Girdhar J Gyani said here on the sidelines of a medical summit organised by the industry body Assocham.
“We will write a letter to Irda to issue a notification in this regard,” he said. Gyani said that the Council will propose to Irda to give hospitals 18 months time to accredit themselves with QCI and only be allowed to be empanelled by insurance service providers.
The Irda is still not very keen on prescribing accredition as a criterion as it will create a lot of noises in the industry but “only the way to promote health insurance is to try for accredition,” he said.
At present, only 19 hospitals have been granted accredition by QCI in India, and it is likely that in a few months around 55 more hospitals will get accredition for getting empanelled, added Gyani.
Insurance companies see this as a good move, but are slightly skeptical as it will impact the customers, who want wider coverage.
“It will surely be a good move but given the criteria very few hospitals will agree to it. It is a medium term objective. First, we need to have higher coverage of hospitals, which are accredited.
The number should be increased first so that customers don’t face inconvenience,” said ICICI Prudential Life Insurance senior vice-president and head (health insurance) Binay Agarwala.
QCI has costituted National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers for setting benchmarks for progress of health industry, which provides accredition to hospitals.Citing examples of Australia and the US, Gyani added that these countries do not provide insurance cover if the hospitals don't have accredition.