New Delhi, Aug 13:
A private hospital room in a metropolitan city should not cost more than the average tariff of a three-star hotel room in the vicinity, a parliamentary committee has recommended as part of a series of measures to make healthcare more affordable and curb out-of-pocket expenditure.
The 176th Report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare, titled “Affordability and Accessibility of Healthcare Facilities in Public and Private Sector” said room charges in private hospitals, particularly in metropolitan cities, need to be rationalised on an “emergent basis”.
The report was presented in the Rajya Sabha and tabled in Lok Sabha on August 7.
The panel recommended making the three-star hotel tariff benchmark mandatory for all private hospitals in large metropolitan cities. Resident doctor, nursing, disposable consumable, meal and laundry costs may be added to the basic room tariff, it said.
It also recommended that the government mandate all tertiary care hospitals to provide patients with a comprehensive and legally binding upfront cost estimate before starting any complex or prolonged medical intervention.
Hospitals should also deploy dedicated financial navigators to help patients and their families understand treatment costs, available philanthropic assistance and health assurance limits, it said.
The committee noted that households continue to face significant financial stress while accessing private healthcare, with average out-of-pocket expenditure per hospitalisation episode pegged at Rs 34,064.
It also flagged medical inflation of 10-13 per cent and differential billing practices linked to room categories.
The panel recommended eliminating room-rent-linked inflation models for standard procedures across private hospitals and putting in place standardised treatment guidelines and mechanisms to cap arbitrary price variations.
It further called for “continuum of care” packages that bundle preventive screening, diagnostics, curative treatment and palliative care under a single capped financial umbrella, saying financial protection should extend beyond acute treatment and surgery to follow-up, rehabilitation and end-of-life care.