How to join the Daman provider network and Thiqa programme

Daman (National Health Insurance Company) describes itself as the UAE's leading health insurance provider. It reports more than 3 million members and a network of over 3,000 medical facilities. A Daman contract lets your clinic bill Daman directly for covered care. If a clinic is not on the network, the patient pays and, depending on the plan, claims reimbursement from Daman. Daman tells members to submit reimbursement claims within 180 days of the date of service.

Daman also manages Thiqa, the Abu Dhabi government's health programme for UAE nationals, and has done so since 2008. Thiqa has a public and a private provider network in Abu Dhabi.

OpenJet is the platform Daman uses with providers. Daman moved its provider portal to OpenJet on 7 April 2023. inHealth's OpenJet user guide lists Daman Provider Services (Track Empanelment, Join Daman Network, and member validity checks for Daman and Thiqa cards), electronic authorization requests, eligibility checks and claims submission.

Daman does not publish the criteria it uses to accept or decline a contracting request. Treat the application as a commercial request that Daman can decline, not as a registration.

OpenJet accepts only valid regulatory credentials, so licensing comes first. The OpenJet user guide asks for the facility licence number and the facility's login for its claims platform (Shafafiya, eClaimLink or Riayati). The system checks these credentials before it creates the account.

In Abu Dhabi, the emirate's health regulator licenses the facility and each healthcare professional. Its Healthcare Insurers Manual says a healthcare provider must hold a Certificate of Authorisation from the regulator before it contracts with authorised insurers under the Abu Dhabi health insurance scheme. Contracts between insurers and providers must use the regulator's Standard Provider Contract.

Professional licensing in Abu Dhabi includes Primary Source Verification (PSV) of credentials by a third-party company. The regulator's licensing manual lists DataFlow as a contact and accepts only PSV reports addressed to the Abu Dhabi regulator. The regulator's Standard for Clinical Privileging requires facilities to delineate the clinical privileges of each professional and to keep a record of the privileges granted.

In Dubai, Dubai's health regulator licenses facilities and professionals. In Sharjah and the northern emirates, the health regulator for that emirate does the licensing.

Licences are issued per emirate. A group with branches in more than one emirate needs each branch licensed in its own emirate. Before you apply, check that no facility licence, practitioner licence or PSV report is close to expiry.

Daman's provider management page says: "for any future contracting requests please log your request via Openjet." Its "Register as a Provider" link goes to openjet.inhealth.ae/account/register. OpenJet is run by inHealth.

The steps in inHealth's OpenJet user guide (version 1.0, April 2025) are:

1. Create an account. Click "Create an account" on the OpenJet login page. The form asks for the facility email address, a password, the user's name and Emirates ID number as printed on the Emirates ID, and the provider type. All fields are mandatory. 2. Verify your regulatory credentials. Select your regulator, enter the facility licence number and your claims-platform username and password, then click "Test Connection". 3. Confirm the account. A confirmation email may be sent; follow its instructions. 4. Request to join. Under Daman Provider Services, use "Join Daman Network" to submit the request and "Track Empanelment" to follow its status.

The user guide does not list the documents Daman asks for in the join request, and Daman does not publish a processing time. Keep your trade licence, facility licence, practitioner licences and PSV reports ready in case Daman asks for them.

Non-network providers with questions can use the query form on Daman's healthcare facilities pages; Daman says a representative will get in touch. Daman's customer service number is 600-532626, or +971 2 614 9555 from outside the UAE.

Daman does not publish the criteria it uses to decide a contracting request. It does publish how it measures providers once they are on the network, through its Medical Quality & Performance (MQP) Programme.

The MQP uses three types of metric. Clinical metrics cover process (whether evidence-based practice is followed) and outcomes (the results of care). Financial metrics cover cost and efficiency. Structural metrics cover the conditions in which providers care for patients. Daman collects the clinical and financial data from the claims that providers submit, and compares the results with local and international benchmarks.

Daman's MQP FAQ says the metrics come from recognised quality systems such as the National Committee for Quality Assurance (US) and the Care Quality Commission (UK). Outcome metrics are risk adjusted for differences in patient mix, using the method in the MQP Metric Specification Manual. Daman calculates separate clinical, financial and structural scores, refreshes the data twice a year, and shares the results with providers twice a year so they can find areas to improve.

For a new clinic, this means Daman measures your claims data from the start. Accurate coding and complete documentation affect both payment and your MQP results.

Thiqa is the health programme of the Government of Abu Dhabi for UAE nationals and those of similar status, and for non-UAE national family members who meet set criteria. Daman has managed it since 2008.

For a private clinic, the key point is who can use the private network. Thiqa's eligibility page gives full coverage in both the public and the private Thiqa network in Abu Dhabi only to UAE nationals (or those of similar status) from Abu Dhabi. UAE nationals from other emirates who do not live in Abu Dhabi, and non-UAE nationals sponsored by a UAE national family member, have coverage in the Abu Dhabi public network. All three groups are covered for emergency treatment in the UAE.

Check each patient before treatment. OpenJet's Member Validity check accepts a Daman or Thiqa card number, or an Emirates ID, with the service date.

Daman does not publish a separate Thiqa provider application. Ask Daman during contracting whether your contract covers Thiqa members, and on what terms.

Thiqa's provider training guidance has required prior authorization at private network providers for inpatient and day-treatment admissions and for MRI, CT, PET and similar scans. Submit these as e-authorization requests on OpenJet before the service, and check Daman's current rules, because they change.

Once your contract is active, two sets of rules apply: the claims and adjudication rules of your emirate's health regulator, and Daman's own Adjudication Rules (ARs).

Daman publishes its ARs quarterly, tentatively in March, June, September and December. Each rule takes effect one month after publication, to allow market consultation, and stakeholders can send feedback at any time. Daman says it is to date the only insurance company in the region that publishes its rules in the public domain. The rules are grouped into five categories: Medical, Pharmaceutical, Dental, Billing, and Questionnaire and Forms (Medical Coverage).

In Abu Dhabi, the regulator's Claims and Adjudication Rules (version V2025.1) require coding under its Coding Manual, which covers ICD-10-CM diagnosis codes, CPT-4 procedure codes and HCPCS. Daman's own rules, for example its wound care management rule, require ICD codes to be coded to the highest level of specificity documented in the medical record.

Prices in Abu Dhabi follow the regulator's Mandatory Tariff, which is the exhaustive price list for the Basic Product. For other products, the provider and the insurer agree prices between 1 and 3 times the Mandatory Tariff. They may negotiate multipliers by service category or CPT range, but not prices for individual service codes. Medicines, blood and blood products are outside the 1 to 3 times range.

For questions about a specific adjudication rule, call Daman customer service on 600-532626.

Daman does not publish its reasons for declining contracting requests. Use Track Empanelment in OpenJet to follow the status of your application, and read any reason Daman gives before you apply again.

If your request stalls, use the non-network provider query form linked from damaninsurance.ae/shared/provider-management, or call Daman customer service on 600-532626. Daman's public provider search at damaninsurance.ae/customers/find-a-hospital shows which facilities are already on the network in your area and specialty.

Before you resubmit, check the points Daman and OpenJet can verify: valid facility and practitioner licences that are not close to expiry, PSV reports in place, delineated clinical privileges for each practitioner, and a service scope that matches your facility licence.

For disputes once you are contracted in Abu Dhabi, the Healthcare Insurers Manual of Abu Dhabi's health regulator requires agreements between insurers and providers to include procedures for settling complaints and disputes. The regulator's Complaints Unit deals with disputes between participants in the health insurance scheme, but only after those procedures have been exhausted. For other emirates, Daman's contact page lists the Insurance Authority as the regulator to contact.