what benefits under employee group health insurace?

What benefits are available under Employee Group Health Insurance?

The employee group health insurance is the medical insurance plan that provides health care coverage to all the employees of a company. In some cases, this policy also covers families of the employee. It is one of the major perk benefits that is offered by the companies to hire talented staff. The group health insurance plans are uniform in nature, i.e. they provide the same

Here are the benefits that are available under the employee group health insurance:

·         Avoid undue hassles since no medical check is required for the employee as well as for the family;

·         You are eligible for all the maternity benefits immediately from the start of the coverage;

·         No need to shell out money for expensive health cover from your pocket. Even, if you need to pay a part of premium yourself, it is relatively cheaper and beneficial to opt in;

·         There is no concept of waiting-period in group plans, i.e. even the pre-existing medical conditions are also covered from the start.

·         Tax benefits are available to the companies that offer group health insurance to its employees;

·         Helps in attracting talented potential hires and keeps the existing employees motivated.

Case withBenefits of Employee Group Health Insurance

Mr. Ram Sahni has been working as a Manager with ABC Ltd at an attractive salary, but the company did not offer any health care plan to its employees. So, to cover the risk of unexpected medical expenses, he took a health coverage plan for him and as well as his family (including is his father aged 55 years) by paying Rs. 50,000 for a year.

To complete the process of buying the policy, he along with the family was required to do a medical screening and during the screening, it was diagnosed that his father is suffering from diabetes which will require a dialysis soon. So, diabetes being a pre-existing medical condition will not be covered by the insurance company.

Mr. Ram got into some misunderstandings with the management of ABC Ltd. due to some performance issue, and he resigned from the job. Then, he joined the XYZ Private Limited where he was also offered employee group health insurance plan as a part of his compensation package.

He decided to cancel his existing health insurance from outside which saved him Rs. 50,000 p.a. and even learned that all his father medical expenses will be taken care of by the employee group health insurance as it covers the pre-existing medical conditions as well. Also, in this course of a job change, he came to know that his wife is pregnant and now all his maternity expenses will also be taken care of by the group insurance.

Even though the job change was a stressful and anxious period for Mr. Ram and his family but it helped them save a big amount of money that was needed for paying medical bills.

Top Hospital Marketing services India

Best hospital marketing in india

The last financial year difficult one for most private healthcare services providers in India. The regulatory headwinds related to the capping of prices of stents and knee implants, the extremely negative media campaigns and unruly patient activism pegged back revenues and dented profits. The Prime Minister running a most undignified campaign of his own caricaturing Indian doctors as blood-thirsty parasites out to mistreat patients and highlighting the fact that he able to stop the rot through legislative action. In Delhi, the Chief Minister is busy rolling out his pet half-baked schemes and many states have come up with draconian provisions under the so-called Clinical Establishment Acts.

However, all this has left private healthcare providers in a hard place. They left with no option but to ruthlessly cut costs and scale back some long-term investments. Many re-working their growth and investment strategy. Marketing budgets slashed, head-counts being” rationalized” and various kinds of harsh cost control measures implemented.

Marketing costs and costs related to patient amenities in the hospital are perhaps the easiest to cut. They do not involve the pain let us say of reducing head-counts by handing out pink-slips. They also do not significantly impact patient outcomes.  A few lesser ads in the newspaper and maybe a water-bottle less in the patient room is unlikely to cause too much of pain.

This also the commonest mistake hospitals make.

Marketing activities and great patient experiences help spread the word around. Brand communication works quietly in pushing a particular hospital in the consideration set of new patients. It helps build perceptions about the quality of care provided by the hospital. It also helps position the hospital as a possible choice whenever the need arises. The messaging has to be continuously reinforced in an unobtrusive manner, gently working on the consumer’s mind, building the desired imagery of the hospital.

In times of turmoil, when an unforgiving media is hell-bent on creating issues where none may exist and when politicians are vying with each other in demonizing a reasonably well-working system the marketing communications put out by the hospital assumes greater significance. Patient stories in the form of nicely crafted testimonial ads can go a long way in reassuring new patients. Announcement ads related to the induction of new technology and equipment can inform patients about new choices available to them. A digital marketing campaign can help patients access the hospital services with greater convenience. A well-executed community outreach program can allow the hospital to enrol patients in long-term relationship programs, binding them together with the hospital.

Great patient experiences also work in a similar manner. Satisfied and happy patients are the finest brand ambassadors. Their credibility based on their own experiences counts for a lot more than any advertising would ever do. It is also foolish to assume that patients will not notice small things, which quietly disappear when stiff cost programs are executed. That nice friendly GDA who takes the wheel-chair, the missing dessert in the meals, the fraying blanket or the worn upholstery on the attendant’s sofa in the patient’s room will always be noticed. Discerning patients will be able to see through these”small” compromises and will definitely talk about them. This kind of talk is extremely detrimental to the brand equity of the hospital and is almost always impossible to fix later on.

Many years ago I had learned that there is usually a cost associated with cutting cost. Sadly, sometimes this cost is not visible at least in the short run. One has to be very careful while taking drastic cost decisions particularly when they look easy or simple. They often are not. The costs thus cut, have a way of coming back and hitting hard in the future. Marketing and patient experience costs usually return with a much greater vengeance and that too in the not so distant future.

HEALTHCARE MARKETING IN INDIA: Healthcare Industry

                    Healthcare Marketing India

India is a witness to a change. There is an accelerated growth of healthcare marketing industry with sprouting of hospitals, at a pace which, is, entirely difficult to fathom. The healthcare market is seeing both private as well as foreign investments as the Indian health care market is expected to grow by a rate of 15 percent in the coming 5 years. However the challenges faced by both the new or old hospital sectors are Healthcare marketing india.

More stress is laid out on the preference of service receiver as the ultimate goal is the satisfaction of the receiver who will in turn vouch for marketing by individual’s experience. Earlier, instead of value treatment the receivers were provided with volume treatment where stress was on quantity of patients being treated irrespective of the quality of care and treatment being provided to them. Thus, health care marketing incorporates various parameters that are specifically designed to acquire the right patients and form a long lasting relationship throughout the individual’s patient phase.

As a healthcare professional it’s important to generate high revenue keeping business objective in mind but not at the cost of devaluing the integrity of healthcare industry. Thus in today’s time it is primarily consumer driven approach like most other industries. It is important for a healthcare organization to build a unique identity to solidify their position in the market so as to have a distinctive identity compared to the competition. 

The challenging landscape of healthcare is in need of innovative strategies to create solutions that offer personalized value based healthcare experiences for patients and care providers.

All you need to know about Health Insurance in India

Best health insurance in india

In India, many companies offer the benefit of group mediclaim policy to their employees along with other benefits such as bonuses, profit sharing, meal coupons, gratuity, and facilities like childcare, pension plans, work from home and more.

A Group Health Insurance plan is custom-made for each organization depending upon the requirements of their employees. This policy takes care of the expenses related to any health care services that the employees or their families (if covered) avail.

The default Sum Insured (SI) is same for every employee, however, employees are also given an option to increase the SI to suit their needs. The premium to be paid towards group medical policy is usually shared by the employer and the employee. But in some cases, the employer may also choose to bear the complete share of the premium amount, and thus providing the benefit of health insurance for free to all its employees.

health insurance consultant provides health insurance which is an agreement between an insurance provider and an individual wherein the former guarantees to take care of certain medical costs of the latter based on the investment made. Some plans offer health insurance for individuals while others offer health insurance for family and group. The Individual Health Insurance plan covers only one individual, the policyholder, who will gain the benefits of the health insurance for his investment.

Claim Procedure
The process to register your claim with this policy is similar to that of any other health insurance policy. You can either opt for the cashless facility at a network hospital, in which case the submission of the claim settlement related documents will be done by the hospital; or get the claim amount reimbursed by submitting all the required documents on your own.

While many of you might think that the health insurance provided by your employer is enough to cover you and your family, but it is not the case. Therefore we recommend that you opt for an appropriate health insurance policy, top-up policy & suitable add-on covers along with the group medical policy provided by your employer, so that you and your loved ones are adequately covered in case of any medical emergencies

what is medical tourism services in india?

How Medical Tourism Is Helping Healthcare Globally

With increasing availability of information and supporting infrastructure, the demand for medical tourism is rising. Individuals seeking medical attention outside their home region have grown steadily all over the globe. Medical tourism now an important sector contributing significantly to a big number of world economies.

 A few ways in which medical tourism is helping healthcare globally are discussed below.

Enhanced Methods Of Information Processing

 There is an increase in the availability of user-friendly softwares and applications for storing, retrieving and operating on data. This allows medical information and other relevant knowledge to be used efficiently, to draw inferences and improve transparency in the healthcare sector.

Systematically stored medical data of each individual helps doctors and diagnosticians to frame a unique course of treatment to minimize recovery period. With the view of enabling efficient document sharing, medical facilities invest in database sharing and maintaining services which help doctors in any country to view patient data to improve decision-making.

Before the limelight on global medical tourism was prominent, detailing of the information technology factor was lacking. With the advent of global tourism, knowledge processing as an asset to healthcare systems has become popular.

The Medical Tourism Company's services include the following:

• Help with procuring a medical visa
• Booking travel to the country where the services will be provided;
• Airport pick up and drop off
• Consultation with appropriate specialists
• Pre-operation accommodation
• On call nurses & doctor visit at hotel
• Booking into the hospital for the operation
• Accommodation for post-operative recuperation
• Arrangements for post-operative care in the foreign country
• Book travel home from the country where services have been provided
• Arranging Travel insurance
• Air Ambulance, In case of emergencies
• Leisure Tours and local food during the entire stay
• Translators for ease in communication with locals

Top medical management consulting firms in india

The online scheduling of appointments and examinations in hospitals, diagnostic centres, and laboratories is no longer a complete novelty, and it has been created with the aim of giving more practicality to patients and reducing costs. It is the way for any company in the health sector wants to improve your profit margin, improving the level of patient satisfaction and your credibility in the market. So, how have some hospitals presented unpredictable results? The difference in performance between one institution and another is explained by the quality of the system implemented and by the way in which this new dynamic is integrated into the routine of health institutions.

Most claims against health institutions are generally complaints about inadequate care, wrong information, and long wait time on the phone to schedule an appointment or an exam. The curious thing is to perceive that in the middle of the information age, many hospitals, diagnostic centres, and laboratories insist on carrying out the agendas manually.

Observing that many health institutions still do not have health care equipment planners and appointment scheduling online or use the tool through low-quality solutions, we decided to write this article. We will show the advantages of implementing the system, the errors that should be avoided so that the institution perceives the difference of results of that initiative directly in its monthly financial statements and demonstrations. Come with us:

What advantages do these systems usually bring?

We can start by advancing what an online scheduling system offers:

• End of the long waiting time for agendas;
• Flexibility for the patient to schedule their appointment in any of the 24 hours a day, seven days a week;
• Better overall patient experience;
• Reduction of costs with the payment of third-party customer service (contact center) or payroll telemarketing attendants when directly supported by the institution;
• Elimination of scheduling errors;
• Removal of scheduling of 2 appointments for the same doctor, at the same time due to the failure of communication between employees;
• Reduction of absenteeism rates with the facilitation of the scheduling flow and availability of alert modules to patients;
• Credibility and professionalism conferred on the institution.

In practice, we talk about something much more significant than the simple electronic scheduling of medical appointments. That’s because, generally, that functionality is only an integral part of a complete health management system that many state-of-the-art institutions already use. In a broad panorama, we have a robust performance management software that is constituted, a global IT solution in health, whose scheduling of online appointments and exams is only one of its utilities.

Modules of online exam results eliminate a good part of the rows in the reception of the institutions, guarantee operation 24 hours per day, in addition to better management of the flow and variations in the demand and sending of SMS messages as a reminder to the patients regarding the scheduled procedures. Several advantages justify the need of top healthcare consulting firms in India. All without trying the dashboard developed based on Business Intelligence, which presents indicators, data crossing, and issuance of graphical reports beneficial for strategic decision making.

Best Manpower Medical Management Consultancy Solution

Manpower Medical Management Consultancy Solution

With the advance of evidence-based medicine, there is a growing concern to avoid errors in medical practice and inpatient care, but there is still much to be developed and improved regarding management errors and how they also affect the performance of the hospital and the patient’s health. Although its consequences are not necessarily as immediate as that of a medical error, the management error can end up having a more significant impact, affecting several patients for an extended period.

Now that you are familiar with the peculiarities of hospital management, it is time to examine how they can become traps and generate errors as shown below: Not planning changes well

Changes are necessary, but it is essential to prepare before initiating any action. You should assess the current situation of the hospital and the situation in which you want the hospital to be in a few years, establish the objectives and goals, define the equipment and resources available for the change, verify which market movement and only then begin to Act.

The change of hospital management system, for example, can impact the hospital for decades, positively or not, then it must be done with excellent security. For all this, it is necessary to reflect on what is the best software, what is the best equipment, what are the advantages presented by each option, how long should you wait for the return of the investment.

The indicators in hospital management to be attentive

When it comes to management, there is no way not to address the indicators, and in hospital management, it could not be otherwise. Only through hospital management consultancy in India it is possible to evaluate the progress of the hospital and verify that the changes are generating positive results or if there are failures in any sector.

The indicator, therefore, should serve for the continuous improvement of the hospital processes, helping in the mapping of risks, in the identification of occurrences and their causes-origins, in the simultaneous management of multiple projects and the linkage of these to the strategic plan of the hospital. With the indicator, it is also possible to predict crises and plan ways to solve or minimize them.

It is worth noting that the performance indicators, which are associated with patient satisfaction with the assistance provided. The signs are, therefore, essential management tools for the evaluation of the quality of the two services provided and for the control of resources and costs.

Every indicator must exist for a specific reason, giving the manager valuable information about the hospital in the areas of organization, resources and work methodology and helping in making decisions.

It is essential that the manager takes into account that the indicators try to represent merely a complicated situation, indirectly impacting reality and evaluating the hospital through necessary mathematical reports. The index gains strength, not in the meantime when compared with other indicators, whether from other areas or the same locality over time.

In this way, the calculation of an indicator is only the beginning of the process. It is necessary that this information is constantly updated, made available for the hospital team, for patients and for other hospitals, compared with other indicators and only then used in management.

It should be regarded that the quality of an indicator depends directly on the accuracy of the data used and from the calculations. Therefore, it is recommended that the hospital management consultancy services are always automated and does not rely directly on manual operations.

Top HealthCare Consultant in India Check Now

Best Healthcare Consultant Team in India

The digital revolution modifies our behavior and our experiences in many areas, including health. The way we deal with our well-being, our relationship with the medical staff and the sharing of personal data are increasingly central themes. The challenges of the so-called healthcare transformation are complex, but there is a key to addressing them without the fear of a Black Mirror future: starting from people and their needs.

The four pillars for addressing healthcare transformation

One often falls into the error of identifying healthcare transformation with technology alone. But this kind of vision ignores a fundamental detail: those who use digital tools are first of all human.

It reverses the techno-centric approach, starting from the end: to understand the aspirations of the beneficiaries fully and then to build solutions able to interpret them in the best possible way. But how can we get this result? We have devised a process that develops on four fundamental pillars:

 Designing human-centered

Let’s imagine that we have to do hospital management consultancy in India for a care facility for the elderly. Who better than the guests who live within it can give us a clear vision of what are the primary needs to be addressed? Confronting with them in a strongly empathetic way we identify their needs and aspirations, drawing solutions that reflect their point of view. In this way, you avoid wasting resources on projects that will not work because they are not very useful or ineffective.

Experience drives transformation

People’s needs are manifested within a specific context. Returning to our guests is clear that the way they live, move and create relationships within the structure has an important role. For this reason, we do not limit ourselves to understanding the needs, but we create a map to identify the moments of the day in which to intervene, the actors who interact with the guests, the obstacles or opportunities that arise and so on. It will be understandable to us that the beneficiaries of the solution are not only the guests but also, for example, the staff of the structure and its visitors.

Healthcare transformation – hospice

Technology is a tool, not an end

As we anticipated, it is not said that a solution with a high technological content is always necessary. Returning to the example, we can easily imagine how the elderly guests of the structure may have difficulty using digital tools. On the contrary, the staff or visitors of the structure could benefit most from it. It is therefore essential to understand which technologies can be useful and which groups of people. But above all, it is necessary to check whether the technological element succeeds in responding to the identified needs.

Change is not simple

The evolution of an organization does not always have positive consequences. Imagine that the staff of the structure used as an example refuses to change an organizational process to better respond to the requirements of the guests. Or that he cannot use the identified technological solution due to inadequate training. Difficulties of this type are persistent and often risk to jeopardize the positive effects obtained. This is why best hospital consultants in India believe it is necessary to support any of our projects with an innovation education plan that prepares the actors involved along the entire process of change.

Emerging trends in Indian healthcare

Emerging Technologies in Healthcare

Where do you think the Indian healthcare system is heading—and what needs to be done?

India has the second-highest number of hospitals worldwide (excluding private hospitals and clinics as well as nursing homes). However, the country ranks low in terms of life expectancy. The Economic Times1 also noted that India has the highest deaths of children under the age of five and 21 per cent of the world's burden of disease, worsened by poor basic health and sanitation. Yet, government spending on healthcare in India was estimated at 5 per cent of its GDP2 in 2013 and is expected  to remain at the level through to 2016, a disproportionate amount compared to its population.

Against this backdrop, the private sector has emerged as a vibrant force in India’s healthcare landscape. The healthcare industry is growing rapidly at a CAGR of 17 per cent3 and is expected to become a US$280 billion industry by 20204. In partnership with the private sector, the government has also committed to healthcare reforms aimed at uplifting the standards of healthcare delivery and to make healthcare available for all.

What needs to be done? A core focus on Translational Medicine both in terms of budget and technologies is critical. For example, the US has allotted almost half (US$60 billion) of its US$121 Billion National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget from 2012-2015to ‘translational’ groups – the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Health and Human Services (HHS). I have spoken with several groups about the ‘Aadhar’ program in India and its healthcare vision. Our (Dell EMC) Centers of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru and Pune are contributing in a small way toward Aadhar. This is a great start, but we need to focus more on the macro-economic and macro-disease issues within India: Stress, Pollution, Diet, Water and Sanitation.

One opportunity is to link initiatives such as Digital India to help elevate the healthcaresystem. This points to a ‘mash-up’ between digitisation in healthcare, smart cities and an ecological approach toward water and sanitation. India is in a position to leap-frog past other emerging economies due to its stability as compared to the other BRIC countries.

What are the greatest challenges and opportunities facing the emerging healthcare system, and how will technology help in meeting them?

Across the world, the key challenges facing the healthcare industries include an ageing population; rising incidence of lifestyle-related non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and heart diseases; as well as a growing pool of digitally-empowered patients.

Technology can be the answer to these challenges. However, many healthcare organisations are not refreshing their IT investment fast enough and adopting new solutions with respect to data collection (Electronic Medical Records), data transfer (protocols), privacy and security.

I believe that most important innovations will come in the ‘protocol’ layer for healthcare. Healthcare organisations will need to be able to pool data from any structured or unstructured source into an organised data lake, and use this to keep refining the treatment options for patients.The use of data lakes, over a period of time, can also help institutions uncover trends that can help improve knowledge on patient care, drug options and treatment. For institutions, such insight can also mean new business models and new incentive models at large scale.

Another key area is security. In the US, it is well known that there is a more than 96 per cent probability that any hospital’s data will be breached. The healthcare industry is the least prepared to recover after a breach.In fact, in the recent Global Data Protection Index commissioned by Dell EMC, only 24 per cent of public healthcare providers in Asia are very confident of fully recovering systems and data to meet business service level agreements in the event of a data loss incident.

Best Health Insurace Consultant india

best family health insurance plans

The Government of India is taking strong interest to provide social security and healthcareassurance for which various steps are been taken.

For instance, Central Government started Unorganized Workers Social Security Act (2008) to provide social security and welfare for the unorganized workers. It was initiated to mitigate risks due to disability, medical emergencies, maternity and old age that unorganized workers may suffer from.best medical insurance for parents in india

Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India, has introduced Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), a Health Insurance Scheme. RSBY was launched in 2008 and is meant for all the families living below poverty line. The objective of RSBY is to cut down the medical expenditure on health which they have to shell out of their pocket. Moreover, this has helped to create awareness while increasing the access to health care.

Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) also covers

• Building and other construction workers registered with the Welfare Boards
• Licensed Railway Porters
• Street Vendors
• MNREGA workers who have worked for more than 15 days during the preceding financial year
• Beedi Workers
• Domestic Workers
• Sanitation Workers
• Mine Workers
• Rickshaw pullers
• Rag pickers
• Auto/Taxi Driver

Objective of RSBY

RSBY has two fold objectives:

1.     To provide financial protection against catastrophic health costs by reducing out the financial burden

2.     To improve access to quality health care for below poverty line households of pocket expenditure for hospitalization and other vulnerable groups in the unorganized sector .

Details of the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) Scheme

• The sum insured offered is up to Rs.30,000 year in case the insured is hospitalized on family floater basis.
• The coverage is provided in case of hospitalization under the defined diseases mentioned in the plan.
• Under RSBY, pre- existing diseases are covered from day one and there is no age limit.
• The maximum number of family members that can be covered under RSBY is five, which includes the head of the house, spouse and up to three dependents.
• In case of hospitalization, the transport expenses are covered up to Rs.100/- per hospitalization, subject to a maximum of Rs.1000/- per year per family.

How Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) works?

Registration Fee: The registration fee to be paid is only Rs.30 year while Central and State Government pays the premium as per their sharing ratio to the insurer. The insurer is selected by the State Government on the basis of a competitive bidding.
Registration Process: The State Government sets up a State Nodal Agency (SNA). The SNA is responsible for implementing, monitoring supervision and part-financing of the RSBY scheme. The SNA is also responsible for coordinating with insurance company, hospitals, district authorities, and other local stake holders.

Features of Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) Scheme

Choice of Hospital – RSBY offers freedom of choice between public and private hospitals to the below poverty line family participating in RSBY.
Safe and Secure – It is for the first time that IT applications are being used for social sector scheme on such a large scale. RSBY scheme issues with biometric enabled smart card with insured’s fingerprints and photographs. All the registered hospitals under RSBY are IT enabled with the facility to use biometric enabled smart card and connected to the server at the district level. This makes this scheme safe and secure from fraud claims.
The key management system of RSBY make sure that the smart card reaches to the right insured person. It is also, responsible for accountability in terms of issuance of the smart card and its usage. The biometric ensures that only the real beneficiary can use the smart card.
Backed by Network of Hospital – The smart card provided under RSBY can be used in any RSBY empaneled hospital across India. It makes RSBY scheme, a truly unique and highly beneficial scheme for the below poverty line family, especially, to the poor families that migrate from one place to the other because of work. RSBY smart card is not restricted to the district under which the card was issued. RSBY smart cards can be used across the network of empaneled hospital in India. Moreover, also provides the split for migrant workers to carry a share of the coverage with them separately.
Cashless Claim Settlement – Because of the smart card provided to the insured under RSBY, one doesn’t have to worry about money or reimbursement. One can avail cashless benefit in any of the authorised hospitals. But to avail cashless benefit, the beneficiary needs to carry and show the smart card, which is then verified through the help of finger prints.
Paperless – No paper work is involved. The participating network hospital does not need to collect all the papers or documents manually. It is send to the insurer online. The payment of expenses is done electronically by the insurer.