Haryana IMA Sounds Alarm Over Rs 400 Crore Ayushman Bharat Payment Delays
The Haryana unit of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has escalated concerns regarding "serious and persistent delays" in payments under the Ayushman Bharat scheme, warning that the situation could severely disrupt healthcare services across the state. In a formal letter addressed to Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini on Wednesday, the association revealed that pending dues to empanelled hospitals have now crossed a staggering Rs 400 crore.
Direct Appeal to Chief Minister Amid Financial Strain
The IMA has urgently called for the Chief Minister's direct intervention to streamline the payment pipeline, citing that prolonged uncertainty is placing immense financial strain on hospitals. "IMA Haryana has written to the CM to also convey that his officers are misleading him," stated IMA chairman Ajay Mahajan. The letter was jointly signed by IMA Haryana president Sunila Soni, honorary secretary Yogesh Jindal, and Mahajan.
According to the association, claims that are mandated to be cleared within 15 days have remained unpaid for several months. Alarmingly, some bills dating back to September 2025 are still pending, even after all related queries have been resolved. "Even after clearing queries, payments are not being made," the association emphasized, highlighting the severe operational challenges faced by healthcare providers.
Administrative Bottlenecks and Governance Concerns
The doctors' body pointed to significant administrative bottlenecks within the Haryana Parivar Pehchan Authority (HPPA), the agency overseeing the scheme's implementation in the state. Despite funds being released to the authority in the first week of November, actual disbursals have been hampered by procedural delays.
The IMA letter detailed that while some payments linked to the Chiranjeevi scheme were processed until December, numerous intervening cases remain outstanding. Furthermore, payments related to the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) have "barely started."
Raising serious governance issues, the IMA noted that there is currently no full-time chief executive officer appointed at HPPA, leading to what it described as "policy paralysis" in decision-making and approvals. Additionally, although empanelment and grievance committees—which include IMA representation—were approved as early as January 2025, they have yet to be operationalized.
Compounding the problem, regular monthly meetings of these panels have not been held for the past five months, adversely affecting fresh empanelments and approvals for new medical specialties under the Ayushman Bharat scheme.
Official Response and Historical Context
In response to these concerns, a senior health official acknowledged the difficulties faced by empanelled hospitals. "We acknowledge the difficulties faced by empanelled hospitals due to procedural delays. Several pending claims have already been processed. Other pending claims are under review and disbursements will be expedited to ensure uninterrupted services under Ayushman Bharat," the official stated.
Under the Ayushman Bharat programme, claim processing and payments are managed through the State Health Agency (SHA), the nodal body responsible for:
- Empanelling hospitals
- Scrutinising medical claims
- Conducting audits
- Releasing payments in coordination with the National Health Authority
Hospital representatives argue that while queries are raised and responded to within stipulated timelines, files frequently get stuck at approval or release stages, resulting in prolonged payment cycles.
This issue of delayed payments is not new in Haryana. In August last year, the State Health Agency announced that claim disbursals were being restarted after fresh budgetary support from the state government. This announcement came just days before approximately 650 private hospitals were poised to withdraw services over long-pending dues.
At that time, the agency reported that a total of Rs 2,900 crore had been paid to empanelled hospitals since the scheme's launch, including over Rs 240 crore in the ongoing financial year. It was stated that claims were being cleared on a first-in-first-out basis.
However, private hospitals maintained that several months of claims remained unpaid and reiterated their threat to halt services if dues were not cleared satisfactorily. The IMA has now cautioned that recurring delays and claim rejections are critically affecting hospital operations, even as the agency maintains that deductions are made strictly per National Health Authority guidelines and that grievance redressal mechanisms, including medical audit committees and the CGRMS portal, are functional.
The ongoing payment crisis underscores the operational challenges in implementing large-scale public health insurance schemes and highlights the urgent need for administrative reforms to ensure timely financial support for healthcare providers.
