New health insurance scheme for faster claim approvals

Dubai Health Authority’s (DHA’s) Health Insurance Corporation has launched a first-of-its-kind value-based healthcare model. The Ejadah model is expected to enhance preventive care by focussing on value rather than volume.

Dubai’s health insurance regulator said the healthcare model will pay for performance and outcomes “that matter to patients”. It will also provide healthcare service providers with “evidence-based guidelines which will be a framework for all physicians to follow with regard to treatment protocols for all ailments”.

DHA’s Director-General Awadh Seghayer Al Ketbi said insurance providers will have a “strong foundation” to refer to evidence-based data and “all stakeholders will work together to enhance healthcare and reduce unnecessary medical expenditure”

Dr Mohamed Farghaly, lead of the Ejadah project at the DHA, explained how a significant part of the cost of managing non-communicable diseases such as diabetes actually goes towards managing the complications of the disease rather than the disease itself.

“By implementing an ecosystem that focuses on preventive care and patient-centered care, this cost can be significantly reduced,” said Dr Farghaly, who is also Family Medicine Consultant, Diabetologist and Professor of Medicine at the Dubai Medical College.