Panel seeks cap on private hospital room charges in metros at 3-star hotel rates
A parliamentary committee has recommended capping private hospital room charges in large metropolitan cities to the average tariff of a three-star hotel room in the
A parliamentary committee has recommended capping private hospital room charges in large metropolitan cities to the average tariff of a three-star hotel room in the same area, as part of a wider set of measures to make healthcare more affordable and reduce out-of-pocket spending. In its 176th Report, titled "Affordability and Accessibility of Healthcare Facilities in Public and Private Sector", the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare also called for upfront cost estimates for complex treatments, capped pricing models, better access to medicines and devices, and stronger healthcare infrastructure beyond urban centres. Read Full Story The report was presented in the Rajya Sabha and tabled in the Lok Sabha on August 7. The committee said room charges in private hospitals, particularly in metropolitan cities, need to be rationalised on an "emergent basis". It recommended making the three-star hotel tariff benchmark mandatory for all private hospitals in large metropolitan cities. Resident doctor, nursing, disposable consumable, meal and laundry costs may be added to the basic room tariff, it said.
It also recommended that the government mandate all tertiary care hospitals to provide patients with a comprehensive and legally binding upfront cost estimate before starting any complex or prolonged medical intervention. Hospitals should also deploy dedicated financial navigators to help patients and their families understand treatment costs, available philanthropic assistance and health assurance limits, it said. The panel noted that households continue to face significant financial stress while accessing private healthcare, with average out-of-pocket expenditure per hospitalisation episode pegged at Rs 34,064. It also flagged medical inflation of 10-13 per cent and differential billing practices linked to room categories. The committee recommended eliminating room-rent-linked inflation models for standard procedures across private hospitals and putting in place standardised treatment guidelines and mechanisms to cap arbitrary price variations. It further called for "continuum of care" packages that bundle preventive screening, diagnostics, curative treatment and palliative care under a single capped financial umbrella. The committee said financial protection should extend beyond acute treatment and surgery to follow-up, rehabilitation and end-of-life care.
For expensive cancer and rare-disease therapies, including immunotherapy, genomic and targeted treatments, it proposed creation of a regulated or State Healthcare Corpus Fund by pooling CSR contributions, philanthropic donations and charitable grants. The corpus should be used to subsidise or fully fund high-cost therapies for eligible patients, it said. The committee also recommended that psychological counselling, emotional support and patient support groups be made mandatory, zero-cost components of approved treatment protocols and capped packages for severe, chronic and terminal diseases in both public and private sectors. On medicines and medical devices, it recommended mandatory AMRIT and Jan Aushadhi pharmacies within all hospitals empanelled under Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY. Private empanelled hospitals should also adopt transparent, tender-based procurement and cap mark-ups on life-saving consumables and devices, it said. It called for a "Zero-Stockout Policy" in government hospitals, backed by digital inventory systems, to ensure uninterrupted availability of high-value consumables and surgical implants. On health insurance, it recommended universal onboarding of private hospitals and healthcare providers onto the Health Claims Exchange and expedited deployment of the Public Insurance Registry to improve transparency, reduce claim disputes and curb fraudulent billing.
The BriefWire