Medi Assist aims to optimize the maternity spend of INR 400+ crores registered by its members via 1 lakh+ claims in 2015-16.

The company leverages technology and networking prowess to help parents-to-be optimize cost and maximize convenience during maternity.

Chennai: Medi Assist a managed healthcare organization, and a Red Herring Asia 2014 award winner for innovative use of technology in the healthcare industry announced that the company had processed more than 1,00,000 claims to the tune of INR 400+ crores related to maternitybenefits in 2015-16.

The company has launched an initiative to help expectant parents optimize utilization of health benefits and minimize out-of-pocket spend during incidences of maternity. Optimizing maternity costs can be a game-changer for the healthcare industry that is witnessing rapidly rising costs across the board.

“Maternity is often the single largest contributor, accounting for as much as 30%, of health benefit spend among most of the corporate group medical policies that we administer.It is our endeavour to work with our insurer partners and help our corporate customers,not necessarily reduce this spend, but extract greater benefit from it, and importantly reduce out of pocket expense for the family,” says Satish Gidugu, COO, Medi Assist.

On the one end of the spectrum are families who are looking to reduce their out of pocket expenses in the face of rapidly rising cost of maternity care.On the other end are young parents-to-be who are willing to choose premium birthing centres and opt for convenience and experience that come at higher cost. However, families at both ends of the spectrum are open to deriving better value out of the maternity benefits extended to them by their corporate medical policies.

“Our aim is to, one, reduce out of pocket expenses by encouraging efficient utilization of benefits; two, reduce cost of care by promoting cashless hospitalization at discounted tariffs; and three, further optimize spend by planning an eCashless hospitalization at a preferred network birthing centre, with full visibility into cost of care,” explains Satish.

Medi Assist members have the added advantage of planning, raising and tracking their claims and their spend using the MediBuddy mobile app and online portal. For policies that include domiciliary cover, expectant moms can utilize these benefits for routine health checks, scans and investigations. Moms-to-be can use the MediBuddy mobile app to book appointments for these check-ups at their preferred medical centre and their preferred date and time.

When the time comes for planningarrival of the baby, the GPS map-based network hospital search helps parents-to-be compare birthing centres based on a range of parameters – room types, facilities and amenities available, doctors and specialists on the roster, cost and more. Medi Assist’s pan-India network of over 10,000+ hospitals and medical centres ensures that expectant moms can choose a birthing centre of their choice either at their city of residence or closer to their maternal homes.

As the D-day nears, the family can plan an eCashlesshospitalization from the comfort of their home using their MediBuddy mobile app. With eCashless, the couple gets full visibility into the estimated cost of care, the value of co-payment if applicable and the out of pocket expenses they should plan for. On the date of admission, the mom-to-be is green channelled into her preferred room with no waiting time.

With targeted programs to create awareness about benefits among policy holders,and with sustained efforts to bring about a behavioural change towards advance intimation and planning, Medi Assist aims to positively influence the manner in which families plan this most exciting journey of lives.