NHA To Collaborate With Cancer Grid

In the first such move to bring in uniform standards of patient care to battle cancer, the National Health Authority (NHA) and National Cancer Grid (NCG) have signed an MoU under the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY).

“The main objective of this collaboration includes developing uniform standards of patient care for prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer; providing specialised training and education in oncology, and facilitating collaborative basic, translational and clinical research in cancer,” said a senior NHA official on Thursday.

Multi-disciplinary care
Dr. Indu Bhushan, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY and the National Health Authority, said: “The partnership with the National Cancer Grid will bring in experts to enhance the cancer care services provided under AB-PMJAY.”

He added that owing to the multi-disciplinary nature of care required for cancer management, both the NHA and NCG recognise the importance of collaborative efforts required to strengthen delivery of cancer services under AB-PMJAY.

Professor R. A. Badwe, Director, Tata Memorial Centre, added that its partnership with the NHA will allow implementation of top-notch standards across all levels of cancer treatment and care under the AB-PMJAY.

Joint review
The NHA and NCG will now jointly review existing cancer treatment packages, pricing of services, and standard treatment workflows covered under the AB-PMJAY, and plug-in necessary gaps to ensure enhanced quality of cancer care.

Both organisations will work on creating cancer services/package benefits based on priority setting tenets such as evidence of efficacy, value (cost-effectiveness), low harm, demand/burden, medical necessity, and wide availability.

The NCG will work closely with the NHA to rationalise payment rates for different benefit packages and treatment/diagnosis plans, and also explore mechanisms to signal the right incentives to providers to ensure quality through pricing mechanisms.

“We have to reduce the cancer burden in the population, ensure uniform standards of patient care towards effective and efficient patient-centric care, improve access to cancer services, and ensure financial risk protection with minimum prevalence of catastrophic health spending and impoverishment,” added Dr. Bhushan. – The Hindu