Centre revises rate structure for 2,000 medical procedures

In a first major revamp since 2014, the Union health ministry has announced revised rates for nearly 2,000 medical procedures under the Central Government Health Services (CGHS) scheme. These rates come into effect from October 13.

- SANKET KOUL

They have been rationalised based on accreditation status, hospital type, city classification and ward entitlement. This was not the case earlier. It comes at a time when the scheme’s working has been a point of contention for both patients and hospitals.

A major complaint from central government employees and pensioners has been that CGHS-empanelled hospitals often refuse to provide cashless treatment.

“Patients were forced to pay from their pocket for treatment and had to wait for months for reimbursement,” a CGHS beneficiary said.

On the other hand, hospitals argued that the government-set package rates were outdated, low and did not account for the rise in medical inflation since 2014.

While small updates in the rate list were being done from time to time, the industry had regularly asked the government to update the CGHS rates in line with medical inflation.