New Delhi, April 15 -- For harried patients and their relatives who twiddle their thumbs for frustratingly long to get medical insurance claim settlement or cashless authorization approved, help may be at hand soon.

The Centre is planning to make it mandatory for health insurance companies to approve cashless authorization requests within an hour, and final claim settlement requests within three hours, according to two people close to the development.

Alongside, a professional agency may be hired to design standardized insurance claim and application forms that are easy to understand and fill. Such forms would also ensure that insurance companies settle claims in full and within the specified period.

"The idea is to have BIS-type stand...