Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Jagat Prakash Nadda, conducted a review of the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) and Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) with senior officials from the National Health Authority (NHA) today.

Ms. Deepti Gaur Mukherjee, CEO of NHA, presented a detailed overview of the schemes' salient features, current status, and various operational aspects. Highlighting significant milestones, the schemes have issued 34.7 crore Ayushman Cards and facilitated 7.35 crore hospital admissions, amounting to over ₹1 lakh crore. The NHA outlined plans to strengthen the network of empanelled hospitals and enhance engagement with them.

Commitment to Universal Health Coverage

Emphasizing the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for universal health coverage, Nadda underscored the need to ensure that the benefits of these schemes reach the most needy and vulnerable sections of society. He urged officials to resolve any challenges hampering the effective implementation of PM-JAY in coordination with state governments. "We need to ensure that challenges and any issues that are hampering the effective implementation of PM-JAY are resolved early in coordination with States,” he stated. He directed the NHA to regularly engage with states to address and resolve issues collaboratively.

Expanding Ayushman Card Coverage

Nadda highlighted the necessity of a bottom-up approach to strengthen and expand Ayushman card creation, especially in urban and metropolitan areas. He stressed the importance of creating pathways and mechanisms for easy verification and enrollment. "Let us keep our systems flexible and agile to ensure the enrolment process,” he advised.

Leveraging Technology for Better Services

The Health Minister pointed out the importance of learning from beneficiaries' experiences and suggested the use of smart technology tools to directly connect with them and gather feedback on hospitalisation and treatment experiences. "This will help us to improve delivery of our healthcare services,” he highlighted.

Enhancing Efficiency through Fraud Prevention

The minister was also briefed on fraud detection and prevention measures implemented by the NHA, which have significantly improved the efficiency of the scheme.

National Health Claims Exchange

Nadda reviewed the National Health Claims Exchange (NHCX), developed by NHA in collaboration with the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority of India (IRDAI). NHCX facilitates paperless settlement of claims submitted by hospitals to insurance companies and provides IRDAI with real-time dashboard views of claim settlements. The platform has integrated 33 insurance companies, covering 99% of the insurance market, and allows citizens to track the status of their insurance claims through mobile devices.