Redesigning healthcare

Home healthcare companies are laboriously working towards bringing in most advanced care to the patient’s doorstep. Redesigning healthcare. BY RAJIV MATHUR

India has one of the lowest hospital bed to patient ratios in the world – 0.9 to 1,000, which is less than one third of the World Health Organisation norm of three beds per 1,000 patients. If you factor out the urban skew, the ratio deteriorates significantly to 1 bed per 6,000 patients! Add to this worrying scenario of the relatively high cost of high quality hospital care (although quite competitive by global standards), and you have the makings of an exponential and growing need for affordable care @ home. Today, wellness and life-span are two metrics of a developed nation. Enabled by cutting edge medical technologies; R&D advances; remote diagnostics; robotics and artificial intelligence the face and shape of critical care @ home is set to undergo a sea change. And that change – especially in the Care @ Home space - is being driven by start-ups. These startups are not just facilitating medical service delivery to patients across the country, but are helping in cutting down the cost of treatments, diagnosis and care@ home services. Other streams of healthcare startups include online pharmacy, medical tech, hospital automation, mobile health, telemedicine and many more.

Even after the Indian government’s extensive plans and projects for healthcare in India viz. NAM (National AYUSH Mission), IMI (Intensified Mission Indradhanush), PMSMA, National Health Mission, the Indian healthcare segment is severely ruptured. The anticipated results aren’t achieved by the Government and the medical care segment is still staggering. People are forced to rely on private hospitals for healthcare and treatments which is growing ever expensive by each day. The paradox prevailing in the Indian healthcare sector is its expensive line of treatment in spite of the country’s portrayal as a ‘medical tourism hub’. Private hospital contributes almost 74% of the total hospital in the country and the healthcare facilities are immoderately high to bear for the larger segment of the society. This critical situation is well handled with the introduction of innovative concepts and quality services by the home healthcare startups in India.

Home healthcare startups have come up with quality service models, facilitating medical services at each doorstep and making it reasonably affordable for most of the population. Implications of the latest technological innovations and IT solutions give the extra edge to home healthcare startups and helps patients with the best treatment and medical assistance right at their home. Whether it is critical care or primary care of patients suffering from diseases, chronic or old-age, home healthcare startups provide dedicated medical care with medical electronics, doctors and nursing staff at the home where the patients can have safe treatment with homely comfort and family around them.

The Indian healthcare segment is expected to grow at a CAGR of 16.28% and reach $372 Billion by 2022. In terms of revenue and employment, the sector has unsurpassable potential which needs right direction and proper exposure. Only less than 10% of the population have access to medical insurances in the country and the out-of-pocket private payments account for nearly 3/4th of the total medical expenditure on healthcare. These statistics are sufficient enough to express the stark contrast between the costs of private medical services and public earnings of the population. The recent entries of home healthcare startups have paved a new path that brings the latest medical facilities available at home for patients, and it doesn’t weight heavy on the pockets as well. The idea of making affordable treatment and care available at home, with ultramodern technological aids can ably revolutionise the healthcare and hospital industry in the country.

Some of the startups have foresighted the gap between the medical facilities and home outreach and come up with the most innovative, practical and pocket-friendly solutions. They unify the elements required for critical care, medical expertise, medical equipment and along with the technological integration they succeed in providing hospital equivalent facilities at home. Just like the turnkey solutions of different business domains, these startups under the guidance of skilled entrepreneurs and visionary leaders, provide complete home health care services including hospital to home transits, doctor visits, coordination with the hospital, 24/7 nursing staff and medical attendant, and medical equipment.

A dedicated network of doctors, physiotherapists, nursing staff, medical assistants and medical practitioners accounts for the prompt and the best-in-class services by home healthcare startups. Apart from the adept services and advanced facilities, they adroitly help to bring down the expenditure, by segregating the medical services from hospital charges, which are affordable and economical. Home healthcare startups are laboriously working to bring in the most advanced technologies like telemedicine, Teleradiology, HIS (Hospital Management Information), EMR (Electronic Medical Records) and Intensive Medical Care and Monitoring Machines at the patient’s doorstep. The future of medical treatment and health ailments cure seems bright with the entry of home healthcare startups and the promising services offered by them. The patient-centric service models developed by these ventures will not only ease the burden on the existing medical infrastructure but also provide access to affordable, high quality critical care@home services to those in need.

Sources: Healthcare Radius, July 2018

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