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New Delhi: The ongoing standoff between private hospitals and Star Health Insurance has taken a new turn as the Indian Medical Association (IMA), along with AHPI, has jointly accused the insurance company of halting cashless claims and deliberately delaying the empanelment of new hospitals.
In a release, the Association of Healthcare Providers of India (AHPI) and the Nursing Homes division of the IMA alleged that some of the large tertiary care hospital chains are facing an alarming situation, where Star Health Insurance has suspended cashless services.
“Secondly, the insurance company has also slowed down or outright stopped the empanelment of new hospitals,” it added.
“Patients deserve seamless access, and hospitals deserve fair treatment as service providers. Star Health must act urgently to restore trust and ensure that its insured members are not penalized for choosing the hospitals best suited to their medical needs,” a joint statement attributed to Dr Girdhar Gyani, DG, AHPI, and Dr. Abul Hasan, Chairman, IMA Hospital Board, reads.
According to the hospitals’ body, cashless service suspension is currently being reported by some of its member hospitals, including Manipal Hospital – Delhi and Gurugram, Max Hospitals – North India, Metro Hospital – Faridabad, Medanta Hospital – Lucknow, and Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Hospital – New Delhi, among several others.
When ETHealthWorld sought comments, the insurance company reiterated its earlier official statement, in which it had described AHPI’s actions as arbitrary, unclear, and lacking actionable details.
Last week, alleging arbitrary rejections of hospital bills and operating on outdated tariff rates, AHPI, which represents over 15,000 hospitals, had served a 10-day ultimatum to Star Health and Allied Insurance Company Ltd., with a warning of suspending cashless services for the company’s policyholders in case of failure to meet the demands.
Notably, the entry of IMA into the ongoing tussle comes two days after the apex non-life insurance body, the General Insurance Council (GIC), had termed the cashless service suspension threat by the Association of Healthcare Providers – India (AHPI) as unilateral and unwarranted.
GIC claimed that it had scheduled a meeting with AHPI to constructively resolve concerns. However, “AHPI rescheduled the meeting to a future date and later proceeded with its unilateral action and signalled a preference for disruption.”
Responding to the allegations today, AHPI in a statement said, “The decision was neither arbitrary nor unilateral, but a necessary response to the unilateral and arbitrary actions of Star Health Insurance in de-empanelling hospitals and withdrawing cashless services.”
