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`Grading
can encourage new players to explore the market’
 Icra,
the New Delhi-based Credit rating company is all set to provide
rating services in the healthcare sector in the next six months.
Two months ago they signed a MoU with Hospital Services Consultancy
Corporation (HSCC) for grading primary, secondary and tertiary
healthcare providers. Even as the company is knee-deep in
developing methodologies, executive director, Amul Gogna,
responds to Nidhi Srivastava on grading and the work
that they would be doing.
What
is the the objective of grading?
The
objective of grading is to provide an independent and reliable
opinion on the relative quality of service being provided
by the hospital. Grading is designed to be an additional input
to the health insurers’ decisionmaking process. Grading
would help establish a relationship between the cost of service
and quality, besides determining the appropriateness of service.
The insurance providers can use grading to decide their networking
with different hospitals for coverage which may help in reducing
the claims ratio. Grading can provide the necessary checks
and balances to help health insurers run their business more
efficiently and also encourage new players to explore the
market.
What is the methodology followed by Icra?
Icra proposes to examine various underlying key factors that
translate into the appropriateness of patient care and the
quality of service. The process of grading shall involve objective
analysis of a number of parameters relating to the operating
performance, human resources, management, past track record
with respect to patient care and billings, infrastructure,
financial strengths along with comparison of a hospital in
its category with others in the peer group. The analysis shall
be based on thorough verification and validation of various
data and information and the final grade shall be a collective
judgement of a Grading Committee. The scheme shall cover both
private and government hospitals. We are currently fine tuning
the various benchmarks and hope to have the first gradings
done by another six months.
How much will it cost the hospitals?
The cost to the hospitals is likely to be a very small fraction
of the size of the establishment as measured by the annual
billings or by the asset size. We shall devise a formal fee
structure after further discussions with a sample of hospitals
who are likely to be graded.
How has the response been so far?
Grading of hospitals is a new concept in India and it would
require a sustained effort towards creating awareness and
familiarity with the product and the benefits it provides
to various participants in the system. With the increasing
role of private sector in healthcare and in health insurance
the concept of hospital grading is likely gain acceptance.
So far the feedback from sector participants, especially private
sector players, has be encouraging.
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