National Health Authority and NATHEALTH to scale up Ayushman Bharat-PMJAY

Both the bodies have decided to set up a mechanism to provide technical experts and inputs, as and when sought by NHA

NATHEALTH has encouraged all its members to take advantage of the programme and consider empanelment of their hospitals under PM-JAY in order to ensure quality care to all Indians.

Both the bodies have decided to set up a mechanism to provide technical experts and inputs, as and when sought by NHA. This will be particularly important, as NHA intends to start soon with the exercise of calibrating package rates and the development of standard treatment protocols/guidelines. NATHEALTH resolved to ensure that its members will actively participate in costing exercises and technical support requests from the NHA and the state governments.

Highlighting the critical role of both public as well as private sector providers for Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna (PMJAY), its implementing agency National Health Authority (NHA) is set to collaborate with NATHEALTH- Healthcare Federation of India.

NATHEALTH and NHA officials met in New Delhi recently to discuss  collaboration  on a  comprehensive  range of ideas to scale up the impact of the scheme. During the meeting, it was decided that NATHEALTH will  extend full support and set up a mechanism to provide technical experts and inputs, as and when sought by NHA  and the State Governments. The development of  quality and accessible health  service packages is an important step towards the goal of PM-JAY.

The collaboration comes at a critical time as NHA will be undertaking the exercise of calibrating package rates and development of standard treatment protocols  to ensure quality healthcare across India. The NHA, which has the mandate to undertake costing exercise and revision of package rates, has committed to establish a transparent process based on established methodology and global best practices and is seeking inputs and full involvement of private sector in the costing process.

“This collaboration is part of our practice of mutual learning from the industry to improve design and implementation of PM-JAY. With the well-being of the last-mile beneficiary as our focus, we look forward to active and sustained contributions of NATHEALTH towards improvement of quality of health care and increasing private investment in health infrastructure in the country.” said  Dr  Indu Bhushan, CEO, NHA.

Also, Dr Dinesh Arora,  Deputy  CEO, NHA, said, “We are happy to collaborate with NATHEALTH and welcome active participation from its members in our costing exercises and technical support requests. I also encourage all its members to take advantage of this collaboration and consider contributing to Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY by empaneling their hospitals and hence expanding the provider network and quality of care.”

Daljit Singh, President, NATHEALTH, said, “We had a very meaningful meeting with NHA. NATHEALTH, in its endeavor to increase access and quality of healthcare across India, will extend full support to the NHA. We will provide technical experts and inputs, whenever required by the Authority. The exercise of calibrating package rates and the development of standard treatment protocols is expected to begin soon and is a very important step towards a meaningful and sustainable collaboration.

“Government officials and industry leaders are of the common view that to achieve set goals under the Ayushman Bharat, all stakeholders need to move forward in a collaborative spirit. Building a strong delivery network with wide participation by the private sector, is very critical for successful implementation of the scheme and NATHEALTH will work in this spirit with NHA towards fulfillment of Ayushman Bharat goals, he added.

Siddhartha Bhattacharya, Secretary General, NATHEALTH, said, “For a larger and meaningful impact of Ayushman Bharat, it is critical to adopt a  partnership  approach between Ayushman Bharat and the private sector. Focus needs to be on the point that health services delivered to the beneficiaries are safe, sustainable and of appropriate quality to ensure  people-centric care. All  efforts should be made to  strengthen and reinforce the primacy of an effective  and viable delivery ecosystem. This collaboration is an important step to work out a robust mechanism that draws upon expertise available across the healthcare sector to achieve universal health coverage in India. ”