To encourage more new private hospitals to get empanelled with the Ayushmaan Bharat scheme (PM-JAY), the Union Health Ministry on Thursday revised the health benefit packages (HBP) provided under the programme. “There has been an increase in the rate of 270 packages, addition of 237 new packages, adoption of 43 stratified packages; and there is no change to the rate of 469 packages," an official from the National Health Agency, a nodal agency for implementing the scheme said.  Around 554 packages will be discontinued, and there is a reduction in the rate of 57 packages, he said.

Currently, PM-JAY has 1,393 treatment packages out of which 1,083 are surgical, 309 medical and 1 unspecified package. 

Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Health Minister, said "We are confident that with the revision in the Health Benefit Packages of Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY, many new private hospitals will get empanelled with the scheme. This will help improve the access to good quality healthcare, and lakhs of vulnerable families will receive free treatment".

Dr. Indu Bhushan, CEO NHA, explained, "Before finalizing the changes, feedback was taken from the States and Union Territories. Their feedback was examined by the review committee.

 "States/UTs which are using insurance model or a combination of Trust and insurance model shall have autonomy to either continue using existing package master till their current contract period ends or shift to the new version after making suitable amendments in their contract".

The revised oncology packages will revamp cancer care for the beneficiaries and are aligned to reflect the current best practices in the country.