AB-PMJAY empanelled hospitals to get star ratings

For the first time in India, hospitals empanelled with the Ayushman Bharat scheme will get star ratings based on their healthcare quality and services. The National Health Authority (NHA) has issued guidelines on the star rating of Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri- Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) empanelled hospitals.

The rating of the empanelled hospitals has been proposed on six healthcare quality domains: effective, timeliness, safety, patient-centred, efficiency and equitability.

"The need for star ranking of hospitals to provide guidance to beneficiaries in approaching empanelled hospitals. As of now, AB-PMJAY has 22,769 hospitals on board across the country. Each domain will have a set of elements like the availability of advanced and super specialised care, patient fall rate per 1000 patients, discharge time, patient satisfaction score compliance to quality indicators etc. And on each element - weightage, data source, scoring criteria is defined," Dr JL Meena, Joint Director at National Health Authority (NHA) told .

He added, "For each defined domain hospital will be given a percentage based on a scoring mechsm. The weight factor will be multiplied with an individual score and then an overall percentage will be derived from it. The cumulative percentage will lead to Star rating of Hospitals."

"For a 5-star ranking, hospitals have to score 90 per cent or more; for a 4-star raking, hospitals have to achieve 75 per cent to 90 per cent; to get a 3-star rating, hospitals have to get 50 per cent to 75 per cent, for a 2-star raking 25 to 50 per cent is the target score for a hospital. Those with a score of less than 25 per cent will get a 1-star rating. These star ratings will be reviewed on a monthly basis," he informed.

"Stakeholder consultation with industry experts for finalization of indicators for star ratings, data collection for indicators from each empanelled hospitals and information on indicators which are currently not captured and the star rating of hospitals will be published on the official website of AB PM-JAY and mobile app of PM-JAY against the name of each empanelled hospital," said Dr Meena.

Since the launch of AB-PMJAY in 2018, about 12,55,00,740 e-cards have been issued and at least 1,08,99,888 beneficiaries have got treatment through hospital admission. The AB-PMJAY is the world's biggest healthcare scheme provides a cover of Rs 5 Lakh per family per year to around 50 crore poor and vulnerable individuals.

( With inputs from ANI )