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Network hospitals in health insurance: Meaning, benefits & importance

Roocha KanadeJul 2, 2025

Network hospitals in health insurance allow you to get cashless treatments. These are one of the benefits of health insurance plans. You can get treatment at a network hospital without paying the whole bill out of pocket. You only need to pay about 10% of the hospital bill and the insurance provider settles the remaining bill with the hospital.

This seamless transaction is possible because the insurance providers have ongoing agreements with empanelled hospitals within their network. Let's understand the network hospital meaning and how it can improve your insurance experience.

Contents

What is network hospital meaning in health insurance?
Benefits of Network Hospitals
What is a Non-Network Hospital Meaning in Health Insurance?
Benefits of non network hospitals
Network vs non-network hospital: Difference
Types of network hospitals
Cashless vs. reimbursement claims in health insurance
The bottom line
Frequently asked questions

What is network hospital meaning in health insurance?

Network hospitals are healthcare facilities that have formal agreements with your insurance provider. The insurer vets hospitals in multiple locations and establishes partnership agreements after negotiating terms and conditions for treatment costs.

Once a facility is empaneled as a network hospital, the insurer agrees to settle the medical bills directly with the hospital. This arrangement simplifies the claims process and reduces policyholders' out-of-pocket expenses.

You can check your network hospitals using your insurance provider's website. If you need elective treatments, check and verify that the hospital of choice is one of the network hospitals. This way, you can get hassle-free, cashless treatments.

Benefits of Network Hospitals

Network hospitals offer the following benefits.

Cashless treatment: A cashless hospital means you don't have to pay expenses upfront to get hospitalised and get treatments. The cost of treatment is also pre-approved by your insurance provider. Only if the medical bill is higher than your sum insured then you have to pay the difference. Otherwise, a major part of the bill will be settled by the insurer directly to the hospital.

Simplified process: If you go to a network hospital for any treatment, you only need to notify the insurer. The approval process will happen in the background, and the hospital will get instructions from the insurer to move forward with the treatment if it is within the scope of your health plan. You need not worry about paying for treatment or settling the hospital bill.

Faster claim processing: For cashless treatments, IRDAI has instructed insurers to approve the claim within an hour. So, immediately after getting to the hospital, your insurer can be notified, and they can instruct the hospital to go ahead with the treatment based on the terms and conditions of the plan. Also, the final bill is settled directly with the hospital, ensuring faster processing of your health insurance claim.

Minimal paperwork: With network hospitals, the transactions happen between the hospital and the insurance provider. Your medical reports, treatment plans, and bills will be sent to the insurer directly. This minimises paperwork for the policyholder. However, you still have to ensure that you keep all the documents safe, for any future reference.

Quality healthcare: As the insurance providers vet these hospitals before they are empanelled, you can be confident that you are getting treated at high-quality centres. To make it convenient for policyholders, insurers often have a vast network, covering many major specialty health centres. You can get easy access to specialists through your network hospitals.

When you have health insurance, getting treatments from network hospitals can be simple, quick, and hassle-free. Further, cashless policies allow you to get discharged without paying the whole bill out of your pocket, depending on the policy terms.

What is a Non-Network Hospital Meaning in Health Insurance?

Non network hospitals are healthcare facilities that don't have tie-ups with your insurance provider. With non network hospitals, you may not get cashless treatments.

Generally, for treatments in non network hospitals, you must pay all the expenses on your own. Then, you can claim reimbursement from your insurance company. This can be a time-consuming process, and the claiming process may be lengthy, involving the submission of multiple documents.

Recently, cashless everywhere has been rolled out by the GIC, where policyholders can get cashless treatments from any non network hospital as well. However, this is more suitable in case of accidents where you don't really have the time to choose one of the network hospitals.

Benefits of non network hospitals

Here are the benefits of non network hospitals in health insurance.

Greater access: Since these hospitals are not a part of the insurance company’s network you are free to choose any of them as per your preference.

Easy location choice: You can visit your nearest hospital in the time of an emergency and begin the treatment in a non network hospital.

Cashless everywhere: After the General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC) announced cashless everywhere, all hospitals can offer cashless treatment, even the non network hospitals.

Network vs non-network hospital: Difference

Here's a quick overview of the key differences between network and non network hospitals.

Feature	Network Hospitals	Non Network Hospitals
Insurance Tie-up	Yes	No
Claim Process	Cashless: insurer settles bills directly	Reimbursement: policyholder pays upfront
Paperwork	Minimal	Extensive
Out-of-Pocket costs	Low	High
Approval Time	Faster	Slower

Types of network hospitals

Generally, your network hospitals include

Diagnostic centers: For imaging and lab tests
Multi-specialty hospitals: For a wide range of services under one roof
Specialty centers: These centers focus on specific treatments like oncology, cardiology, etc.

Cashless vs. reimbursement claims in health insurance

Cashless claims allow you to get treated in any network hospital without upfront admission charges and delays. With reimbursement claims, you can go to any hospital, but pay the bills yourself first. Then, based on the policy terms and sum assured, you can make a claim and get reimbursed for the bills paid.

Here's a quick overview of cashless vs reimbursement claims in health insurance:

Aspect	Cashless Claim	Reimbursement Claim
Payment	The insurer pays directly to the hospital	The policyholder pays and claims later
Hospital Type	Network hospitals only	Any hospital
Process	Faster and streamlined	Slower with more documentation
Financial Burden	Lower at the time of treatment	Higher upfront costs

The bottom line

Network hospitals are healthcare facilities that are vetted and empaneled by insurance providers. Depending on the policy terms, policyholders can get cashless treatments from these hospitals within the network.

While you can get emergency treatment and avail cashless treatment from non network hospitals (varies based on policy terms), the process will be seamless and simple if you choose to get treated in a network hospital. Reimbursement plans, on the other hand, require you to pay upfront costs before you can claim your medical bills.

Cashless hospitals can be more useful for a hassle-free treatment experience. Explore insurance providers to find cashless network hospitals near you to get the full benefits of insurance.

Frequently asked questions

Here are some common questions about network hospitals in health insurance

What is the network hospital meaning?

Network hospitals refer to hospitals that have an agreement with your insurance provider to give you cashless treatments. You can choose to get treatments in one of the network hospitals to simplify the claim process.

Can I get cashless treatment at a non network hospital?

It's possible to get cashless treatment at a non network hospital in case of emergencies and accidents. However, it depends on the terms and conditions of your insurance policy.

What happens if I get admitted to a non network hospital?

If you choose a non network hospital, you may have to pay an upfront cost to get admitted to the hospital. You must pay all the treatment charges and settle the medical bill before you can get discharged. Later, depending on your policy terms, you can claim reimbursement for medical bills by submitting the relevant documents.

Are charges higher at non network hospitals?

Generally, charges are higher at non network hospitals. This is because network hospitals enter into partnerships with insurance providers, and they agree upon standard treatment rates. However, this can vary from one hospital to another and is also based on the insurer.

Are emergency treatments covered in non network hospitals?

Yes, most of the insurance providers cover emergency treatments in non network hospitals. With the cashless everywhere initiative, you may even have the option to get cashless treatment from a non network hospital based on your policy terms.