Better incentives for better quality healthcare providers under AB-PMJAY: National Health Authority CEO

New Delhi [India], August 24 : The ambitious Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) scheme has completed over two crore hospital admissions so far as per the CEO of the National Health Authority.
In an exclusive interview with ANI, Dr R S Sharma, CEO of the National Health Authority said that the target is to cover the whole country.
"Our aim is to reach every single eligible beneficiary in the country. The numbers are important and we are already working to achieve this," Sharma said.
On how to ensure the quality of healthcare people are getting with the help of Ayushman Bharat Dr Sharma said that the National Health Authority (NHA) will be providing incentives to those hospitals which have a better quality of healthcare system and services.
"CoWin has been a game-changer. It has proven to be extremely powerful in keeping track of the vaccination details. This success with CoWin has helped us innovate and create another instance of this programme to monitor immunisation. With this new programme, we'll be able to keep track of every child's immunisation as well as the immunisation of the country against several illnesses and the subsequent necessary follow-ups." Dr RS Sharma on the new vaccine tracking platform.
Emphasizing on the topic of vaccination tracking, he further said, "I think we will be able to have a much better hold and much better coverage on the immunisation programme in our country
"Another important aspect we are working on to ensure seamless interaction is to change our methods of payment. We are reducing reimbursement payment time so that hospitals don't have to wait for the money to be reimbursed for the treatments," he added.
Talking about the change in methods, he said, "For us quality of care is paramount. We are working towards getting quality hospitals irrespective of their size empanelled with Ayushman Bharat. We are providing incentives to those hospitals that deliver quality healthcare. Additionally, we are ensuring that rates of care are realistic so that more hospitals come forward to partner with us."
On the topic of fraudulent billing by hospitals, Dr R.S. Sharma highlighted, "We have a very robust IT system in place for fraud detection. Every single instance of fraud is immediately detected and investigated. We have anti-fraud software and systems deployed on our platform that immediately catches on any pattern that seems even remotely suspicious and this is investigated and appropriate action is taken."
As of now, Ayushman Bharat Scheme has been implemented in all 33 states and union territories, Dr.R.S. Sharma said.