UP govt acts against 200 private hospitals over Ayushman Scheme violations

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh govt acted against some 200 private hospitals for allegedly failing to meet prescribed standards under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, officials said on Friday.Under the crackdown ordered by chief minister Yogi Adityanath, payments to nearly 100 hospitals have been stopped, while around 100 others have been suspended from the flagship health insurance scheme.“The move is part of govt’s effort to improve transparency, accountability and quality of treatment provided to economically weaker patients covered under the Ayushman scheme,” said Archana Verma, CEO, SACHIS, UP.She informed that the process of empanelment and monitoring of hospitals has now been made stricter through the Hospital Empanelment Module (HEM) 2.0 portal.“Under the revised system, hospitals are required to comply with 35 standards, including valid registration certificates, fire safety clearance, infrastructure requirements, doctor qualifications and mandatory healthcare registrations,” she said.Officials said hospitals were repeatedly informed and assisted through emails, phone calls, virtual meetings and official communication to complete the migration process to the HEM 2.0 portal. More than 95% of empanelled hospitals complied with the new norms, but around 200 private hospitals failed to complete the process despite repeated opportunities.The affected hospitals are spread across several districts, including Lucknow, Agra, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Prayagraj, Gorakhpur, Bareilly, Moradabad and Varanasi.Officials said the action was necessary to ensure that beneficiaries receive standard-based and quality healthcare services under the scheme.The govt has also directed all empanelled hospitals to obtain NABH certification and has intensified regular audits and monitoring at both state and district levels.As part of the larger healthcare digitisation push, the state is implementing ABDM-enabled hospital management systems and phased rollout of Electronic Health Records (EHR) to improve transparency and patient management.Authorities said strict monitoring is also underway in cases involving alleged misuse of doctors’ degrees and credentials, with action being taken as per rules.