Aarna Hospital Introduced Cashless facility for Covid-19 Patients in Gujarat

At the time when the patients of Covid-19 struggled with claim settlements, huge deductions and even denial of claim settlement for Covid related treatments, a hospital in Ahmedabad has came forward to provide some relief. Aarna Super Specialty Hospital, situated in Maninagar area of Ahmedabad, became the first and only hospital in Gujarat that took the initiative to provide cashless facility to Covid-19 patients. In the last three months, more than 20 patients have been benefited with the cashless treatment of Covid-19.

Speaking on this, Dr. Rohit Joshi, Chairman, Aarna Super Speciality Hospital Said “The Covid-19 jolted the people on both, economic as well as health fronts. In absence of cashless treatment for Covid, patients despite having health insurance were forced to face issues such as claim rejection, delays and had no option but to pay hefty medical bills from savings and even had to borrow. We had started offering the cashless facility in December, 2020 and the response from the patients has been very satisfactory.”

"At Aarna Hospital we offer cashless treatment for Covid patients. Patients get quality treatment without paying a single penny from their own pocket. With 3rd party audit of the hospital bills by insurance companies and TPAs, grievances also get reduced significantly. I would request more and more hospitals to follow us to help patients amidst the rising number of cases in last few days.” he added.

It’s noteworthy that the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) had taken a serious note of instances of hospitals denying cashless claim settlement facility to policyholders for treatment of Covid-19. In a circular dated 14th July 2020, the regulator advised insurance companies to ensure that policyholders get cashless treatment facility at hospitals where it is applicable.

As per IRDA notification, Insurance companies are advised to ensure that where the policyholder is notified about the availability of a cashless facility at the empaneled network provider, the cashless facility at such network provider shall be made available to the policyholder in accordance to the terms and conditions of the policy contract and as per the terms agreed in Service Level Agreement.