Urgent Need To Develop A Healthcare Insurance Framework To Contain Medical Inflation Across The Region

Healthcare per capita spending in UAE amongst top 20 world-wide

12 January 2017, Dubai:  Having healthcare insurance become mandatory across the region, and medical pricing and inflation continuing to rise, healthcare providers, insurance companies, and solutions providers must ensure their business models can sustain the significant impact it will have on the healthcare insurance landscape.

With 98% of Dubai residents and over 4 million people in the UAE having health insurance, the UAE spends $1,200 per person on healthcare – putting it in the top 20 countries for healthcare spending per capita*. The healthcare spend per person is commendably high in comparison to much of the rest of the world.  With this, UAE needs to take a closer look at the healthcare insurance sector, to improve efficiencies and reduce waste as well as focus on how implementing mandatory insurance in Dubai and Abu Dhabi has put specific practices in place for sector wide improvement.  

Speaking ahead of the 12th Healthcare Insurance Forum in Dubai, Husein Reka, Senior Advisor to Minister of Health - Kosovo, mentioned three interventions that could be put in place to manage the rise in medical inflation. He stated that funding models could be revised 'to reduce the risk of pools and transaction costs.' He went on to say ‘robust and proportionate regulation of payers and providers is a must’ as well as the need 'to make better use of Health Technology Assessment and Cost-Effectiveness tools to achieve good value for money, rather than immediate uptake and diffusion of new and not proven technology and pharmaceuticals.'

Dr. Mohamad Chabuk, Operations Manager at Dublin Health Services weighed in on the topic and added that 'the increase in cost comes naturally with the increase in demand resulting from the change in life style to a higher level and class,' he went on to say 'regulatory authorities need to specify a pricing policy with capping to avoid over pricing, however, this should be parallel to drawing a clear guideline on the competitiveness and different level of pricing according to certain criteria that depends mainly on the level and quality of service provided.'

He added that 'following those guidelines, providers as well as payers need to work together to ensure those terms are achieved accordingly with proper monitoring systems to avoid abuse and errors. The patient has a major role in supporting those entities in achieving their aims strengthened by proper knowledge and education about the rights and role in the cycle.'

The Healthcare Insurance Forum scheduled for January 2017 will gather leaders from the sector to focus on key themes affecting the industry. AHIMA, Daman, Oman Insurance Company, American Association of Professional Coders, Dublin Health Services among others will discuss and highlight strategies on creating an effective healthcare insurance ecosystem, curbing medical inflation for sustainability, disrupting healthcare insurance for improved efficiencies and creating a world class healthcare insurance sector. New topics such as telehealth, virtual reality and how digital transformation will affect the Industry will also be covered.

The 12th Annual Healthcare Insurance Forum is scheduled to take place from 31st January – 1st February 2017. With over 30 speakers, 2 keynotes from leading industry specialists and 2 workshops as well as a wellness seminar taking place alongside the conference, the forum will gather healthcare insurance stakeholders including regional regulators, authorities, ministries, insurers, operators, technology providers and corporates.

The event is supported by Truven Health Analytics, an IBM company as Gold sponsor, Medstar Insurance as HR Stream sponsor, AlMadallah Healthcare Management as Bronze sponsor and Cegedim Insurance Solutions & Hearst Health International as Exhibitors.