A survey conducted by LocalCircles showed people around India receiving hefty hospital bills, often lacking sufficient breakups.
74 percent of respondents advocating for government intervention through BIS to establish a standardised billing format for all hospitals. (Creative Commons)
After India’s three-year-long battle with the Covid-19 pandemic, which illuminated numerous shortcomings in current health infrastructures, a survey has pointed out another challenge — opaque hospital bills.
A survey conducted by LocalCircles showed people around India receiving hefty hospital bills, often lacking sufficient breakups and explanations.
In the survey, only 47 percent of respondents reported receiving hospital bills for themselves or their family members that properly listed all consumables, services, and facilities charges.
LocalCircles — a polling platform that raises the issues of governance, and public and consumer interest— conducted the survey ahead of World Health Day to highlight the critical necessity of improving transparency in healthcare billing processes.
Given the constant conflict between private hospitals and patients/caregivers over bills, LocalCircles sought how they would like this issue resolved.
The survey received nearly 23,000 responses from citizens located in 305 districts of India.
67 percent of the respondents were men while 33 percent were women. 45 percent of the respondents were from tier 1 districts, 31 percent from tier 2 districts and 24 percent from tier 3, 4 and rural districts.
The survey initially inquired about citizens’ encounters with hospital bills, posing the question, “When you or someone from your family was admitted to a hospital or nursing home in the last 3 years, how was the final bill presented to you?”
Among the 12,000 respondents to this query, 47 percent expressed satisfaction, noting that “all charges had been broken down separately in detail for consumables, services, consultation, facilities, etc.”
Among the remaining respondents, 43 percent indicated that while the charges were broken down, the bill lacked details regarding the consumables used and the various services availed.
Additionally, 10 percent mentioned that no details about the charges were provided in the bill, as only “package charges” were mentioned.
Given that the majority of respondents expressed dissatisfaction with the billing format and the lack of detailing, the survey proceeded to ask, “Should the government, through BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards), establish a common standard for hospital bills that mandates itemised listing of all products, consumables, services, facilities, etc., along with associated costs?”
This question garnered 11,603 responses, with 74 percent advocating for government intervention through BIS to establish a standardised billing format for all hospitals.
However, 17 percent of respondents believed that the government should not intervene and instead preferred to “leave it to the hospital on how they want to present the bill,” while 9 percent of those surveyed did not have clear views.
In summary, 74 percent of respondents expressed a desire that the government establish a mandatory BIS standard for hospital bills, requiring all charges for consumables, services, facilities, etc, to be listed.
“Transparency in billing will help not only the consumers but also health insurance companies, employers who give reimbursement packages and even the government — both central and states, some of which are providing health care schemes,” said LocalCircles in a statement.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil)
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