Secretary stresses on greater collaboration between hospitals and insurers through cost control and standardization

Secretary urges Insurance companies to ensure highest standards of service and better turnaround time for policy holders especially during hospitalisation and settlement of claims

A meeting was chaired by Shri. M. Nagaraju, Secretary, Department of Financial Services (DFS) on 13.11.2025 to discuss the issues of medical inflation and rising premium costs.

The meeting was attended by representatives from General Insurance Council, Association of Healthcare Providers in India (AHPI), healthcare industry representatives from Max Healthcare, Fortis Healthcare, Apollo Hospitals and insurers like New India Assurance Company Limited, Star Health Insurance and Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company, along with several others. 

Secretary advised insurers and hospitals to take measures such as expediting the onboarding on National Health Claims Exchange, devising standardized treatment protocols, common empanelment norms, seamless cashless claims processing etc.  to make healthcare affordable and accessible.

Further, he emphasized that having standardised hospital empanelment norms across all insurers would ensure consistent cashless access for policyholders, streamline the service terms, improve operational procedures and reduce administrative burden on hospitals. 

He stressed that the insurance companies should ensure that the policy holders are provided with the highest standards of service and better turnaround time especially during hospitalisation process and while providing approvals for settlement of claims.

During the meeting, Secretary also advised that while medical inflation is interconnected with various cost drivers, greater collaboration between hospitals and insurers through cost control and standardization is necessary to bring transparency and efficiency to ensure better value for health insurance policyholders.

Shri Inderjeet Singh, Secretary General, General Insurance Council, Dr. Suneeta Reddy, MD, Apollo Hospitals, Shri Shivakumar Pattabhiraman, MD, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, Shri Abhay Soi, CMD, Max Healthcare, Dr. Girdhar J. Gyani, Director General, AHPI, Shri Krishnan Ramachandran, CEO, Niva Bupa Health Insurance, Shri Amitabh Jain, ED & COO, Star Health Insurance, Smt. Meera Parthasarathy, General Manager, Oriental Insurance Company, participated in the discussions, along with several other stakeholders.

Standardized hospital empanelment norms improve cashless access, reducing administrative burden and enhancing claim turnaround. The Department of Financial Services urged insurers and hospitals to accelerate onboarding to the National Health Claims Exchange, adopt standardized treatment protocols, implement cashless claims processing, and establish standardized empanelment norms across insurers to secure consistent cashless access, reduce hospital administrative burden, and improve claim turnaround times to address medical inflation.