Tuesday 19 March 2024
 
»
 
»
Story

DHA to adopt new health insurance payment system

DUBAI, December 7, 2016

Dubai Health Authority (DHA) is set to adopt a new health insurance payment system that will improve transparency and quality of healthcare services in Dubai, UAE.

Humaid Al Qatami, chairman of the board and director general of DHA, announced that the executive council has approved the implementation of the International Refined Diagnosis-Related Group (IR DRG) under resolution No. 21 of 2016, in line with the launch of the third and last phase of the health insurance system ‘Isahd’ (Happiness).

Using this new system will simplify the payment process by encouraging administrative efficiency, and payments will be based on patient acuity and hospital resources rather than length of stay, said a statement by the authority.

Al Qatami pointed out that this step is important to develop health services in Dubai as adopting such a clear pricing method allows hospitals and clinics to provide fair prices, and it also allows for investment opportunities based on set standards.

He also added that the executive council decided to adopt the new system after holding a series of meetings with insurance provides and after studying its benefits for two years and benchmarking with best international practices.

Dr Haidar Al Yousef, director of health funding at DHA, said: “The new system also adopts a statistical system of classifying any inpatient stay into groups for the purposes of payment.”

“The DRG classification system divides possible diagnoses for the purpose of reimbursement with built in incentives for higher quality providers,” he said.

“It also has a medical inflation indicator that caters to increases in cost for the medical sector in collaboration with the Dubai Statistic Center, which can produce indicators of inflation particular to health,” he added.

Al Yousef noted that the new system will be implemented within three years starting 2017 and ending in 2019, in order for the hospitals and clinics to adopt the new system under Esaad seamlessly.

The pilot phase with shadow billing will begin in 2017 for hospital accommodation only, and will last till the end of 2017, said a statement.

At the beginning of 2018, all services will be included and the pilot phase for outpatient clinics will kick off, so that in 2019 the system will be implemented in full effect, it said.

Al Yousuf further added that the system was chosen after a number of evaluations, which subsequently proved that it can use the authority’s unified data system.

DHA recently organised a workshop in partnership with all the concerned parties and strategic partners to familiarise them with the new payment system, it stated. – TradeArabia News Service




Tags: | Insurance | Health | payment | system | DHA |

More Finance & Capital Market Stories

calendarCalendar of Events

Ads