| ipmimagazine.com ? The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) has launched the insurance partner relations opinion management e-system (iPROMeS), an electronic portal for managing suggestions, queries, feedback and complaints related to all heath insurance services provided in Dubai. His Excellency Engineer Essa Al Maidoor, Director-General of the DHA, who launched the portal, said, “In line with the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and in keeping with the Dubai Strategic Plan 2015, the DHA is pleased to introduce this portal. The portal provides insured members with a dedicated forum to express their opinions, feedback, suggestions, and complaints with regards to health insurance services in the Emirate. This is one of the important steps prior to the implementation of mandatory health insurance for Dubai. If you wonder how it differs to how US health insurance works, check out www.insurancequotes.com to get some perspective on it and if you were in the US and wanted to better understand how to reduce Medicare premiums check out websites similar to boomerbenefits.com. But I digress. It ensures accountability, and such regulatory practices are essential to ensure transparency, fairness and efficiency in the health insurance sector in Dubai.” Dr. Haidar Al Yousuf, director of Health Funding at the DHA, said, “This is one of our key regulatory tools that is designed with an aim to reach out to the public and protect their rights because the people of Dubai are our key partners in the health system development process.” He added that the portal is a mechanism whereby insured members can lodge a complaint against an insurance company if the company refuses to cover a certain service or health test that the insured member is entitled to as part of the policy. “Besides the issue of entitlement and other health insurance-related complaints, the portal also provides a platform for people to express their opinions, provide feedback and suggestions.” Insured members can log on to this system and fill out a form with the details of their health insurance policy. Once they fill out the form they will receive a notification with a ticket number via e-mail. Insured members can also use this ticket number to track their complaint. Al Yousuf explained the functioning of the system and highlighted some important areas that the portal helps address, saying, “Insured members who have any problems with regard to entitlement of their insurance policy can lodge a complaint online. Some of the problems of entitlement are very straightforward and can be resolved quickly. However, some complaints are more complicated and resolution of such cases could take up to a maximum of a few weeks.” Regarding the abuse of an insurance card by healthcare providers, Al Yousuf explains: “If a patient feels that the healthcare facility? hospital, clinic or laboratory ? is abusing the health insurance card and putting the patient through unnecessary tests or procedures, he or she is entitled to complain to us via the portal and we will look into the matter.” Al Yousuf added that feedback and suggestions are important for improving the services of the health sector. “While accountability is important, it is equally important to appreciate the work of insurance service providers.” |
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