Hospital authorisation is the process of getting Discovery Health to confirm cover before a planned admission or procedure. Discovery publishes one number for authorisations, claims queries and benefit information, and a separate emergency line.
Official task/support route
- Hospital authorisations, claims and benefit queries: 0860 99 88 77
- Operating hours: 07:00 – 20:00, Monday to Friday
- Discovery 911 emergency services: 0860 999 911
- Discovery 911 from outside South Africa: +27 11 529 6900
- Emergency line hours: all hours
Discovery’s own wording is that this number covers hospital authorisations, queries on your claims or benefit information, and that you can also update membership details or query a debit order on it. Discovery asks that you have your membership number ready when you call.
The emergency number is separate and operates at all hours. Use it when medically equipped transport is needed, with your medical aid membership number to hand — not for a planned authorisation.
What you need before contacting
Authorisation confirms that the scheme will cover a defined procedure under your plan. It is not a clinical decision and it is not a guarantee that every line item on every account will be paid — co-payments, sub-limits and non-scheme rates can still apply. Treating it as a payment guarantee is the most common source of a surprise account afterwards.
Have the membership number, the identity number of the patient, the name and practice number of the treating doctor, the hospital, the planned admission date and the procedure or ICD-10 code if you have it. Authorisation is granted against a specific procedure at a specific facility, so vague details slow it down more than anything else.
Step-by-step contact process
Obtain the procedure details from your doctor’s rooms first — in practice the rooms often obtain authorisation on your behalf, so confirm whether they are doing it before duplicating the request. Then call the authorisations number, give the membership and clinical details, and record the authorisation number you are issued. Confirm what the authorisation actually covers, since an authorised admission does not automatically mean every associated account is covered in full.
Do this in advance of a planned admission rather than on the day. For an emergency admission, authorisation is obtained after the fact, generally within the period set out in the scheme rules.
Escalation route
Keep the authorisation number with your admission paperwork and give it to the hospital at admission. Hospitals bill against it, and an admission processed without it is far more likely to be queried later.
If an authorisation is declined and you believe it should not have been, ask for the reason in writing and lodge a formal dispute through Discovery’s internal complaints process — Discovery publishes a dispute form and a staged process for this. Discovery Health Medical Scheme is regulated by the Council for Medical Schemes, and Discovery states that you may contact the Council at any stage, though it encourages members to complete the internal steps first.
Sources
Contact details on this page were checked against Discovery’s own contact pages, discovery.co.za/portal/individual/contact-us and discovery.co.za, on 30 August 2026. Routes Discovery does not publish are not listed here.