The Andhra Pradesh government on Wednesday fixed a ceiling rate for packages for treatment of COVID-19 for private hospitals. The treatment would be covered under the state government's Aarogyasri health scheme.
The Technical Committee has designed the per day cost based on packages for ‘critical’ and ‘non-critical’ care COVID-19 cases.
While for non-critical COVID-19 cases, the treatment cost per day is fixed at Rs 3,250, critical cases patients in ICU without a ventilator and without NIV would be charged Rs 5,480 per day; ICU with NIV (Nasal O2, CPAP, BIPAP, HFNO) would be charged Rs 5,980 per day; ICU with ventilator per day would be charged Rs 9,580; SEPSIS without ventilator would be charged Rs 6,280 per day; SEPSIS with ventilator would be charged Rs 10,380 per day and Septic Shock/ MODS with ventilator would be charged Rs 10,380 per day.
The government said that for private hospitals who are not providing healthcare under Aarogyasri, if a patient prefers to stay in a private room, an additional amount of Rs 600 can be charged apart from the price fixed for non-critical COVID – 19 cases.
The Government Order (GO) also detailed how non-critical and critical cases should be differentiated.
The indications for the non-critical COVID-19 positive category are fever, sore throat, cough, etc and the Chest X-ray should be normal. The indication for the critical care — ICU without ventilator — is that Chest X-ray should be abnormal, and indications for ICU with NIV category are the Chest X-ray should be abnormal and SPO2 (oxygen saturation) should be less than 94, the GO reads.
The GO said that the COVID-19 test carried out in private labs would additionally cost Rs 2,400.
The Technical Committee which fixed the tariff was headed by Dr KS Jawahar Reddy, special chief secretary. The committee was formed on June 20.
In Andhra Pradesh, to battle with the pandemic, the state government has classified all the private hospitals as: category A (exclusive COVID-19 treatment hospitals), category B (hospitals that treat both COVID-19 and non-COVID cases) and category C (hospitals for treatment of ailments other than COVID-19).
“The Category A Hospitals can claim the bills through the Aarogyasri and provide treatment to the COVID 19 cases on a cashless basis,” the government said.
The Non-Aarogyasri hospitals must display the above “Per day rates” at the reception of the hospitals and provide treatment as per the SOPs, protocols, guidelines issued by the ICMR and the state government on a timely basis, the GO added.