I am very happy to inform the members that the series of efforts taken by the Institute in championing for a scientific principle based Health Care Cost has resulted in a crucial meeting with Dr. B.D. Athani, Special DGHS on 5th May 2015. This meeting was to explore the possibilities of the Institute to extend its expertise in fixing range of costing rates for some key medical procedures decided by DGHS. During the very interactive meeting with DGHS and his team, I was able to highlight the key outcomes from the Asian Summit on Healthcare Cost Management held in March 2015, as well as the special cost study conducted by the Institute on some of the key medical procedures under advice from Ministry of Corporate Affairs. The costing template developed by the Institute and accepted by the Committee formed under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare was also a point of reference for further action. It was briefed that the Clinical Establishments Act passed by Parliament is to be implemented in 9 States and 6 Union Territories require determining the range of rates of healthcare procedures and services. The Institute’s current efforts to guide the Delhi Arm of Indian Medical Association and Association of Healthcare Providers of India on how they can determine the Cost and use of Cost Template , was also highlighted. DGHS was quite happy to note that the Institute has developed a mechanism for costing and is ready with the Costing Template and guidelines thru the Guidance Note on Healthcare Cost Management. The Directorate will initiate the exercise and seek expert guidance from the Institute to undertake this exercise in a systematic way. It was also suggested by Spl. DGHS to have a WHO Workshop by the Ministry in association with the Institute to clarify the concept, methodology and usefulness of Costing in health care.
