Medi Assist India, one of the largest TPAs in the country has been lauded for its innovative use of technology in the healthcare industry. Prashant Jhaveri, Head, Products and Strategy, Medi Assist elaborates on their growth and successes with the effective role of technology, the company’s plans for the Indian market in coming years and more, in an interview with Lakshmipriya Nair
How has Medi Assist helped simplify the medical insurance claims process?
At Medi Assist, we give our stakeholders a lot more than the basics. Our members enjoy real-time access to their health benefits using a range of self-help channels such as MediBuddy, our mobile app. Our partner insurers get visibility into their portfolio performance through a range of MIS reports and our network hospitals are able to delight their patients by enabling online claims managements and green channel admission for a cashless hospitalisation.
How have you leveraged technology to become a differentiator in your space?
We have been one of the pioneers in realising the power of technology and leveraging it in our industry. For example, if faxes were the norm for preauthorisation requests, we steered the industry towards online submission of claims on our MediBuddy+ hospital portal. If call centres were the first point of contact for any information, we moved our members towards self-help using their MediBuddy mobile app or portal to instantly and independently get the answers they seek. If it was normal for hospitals to make their patients wait at the insurance desk for a preauthorisation, we gave our network hospitals the ability to completely eliminate wait time during admission by enabling our members to opt for an eCashless planned hospitalisation even before visiting the hospital. The result is that, today as far as market perception goes, Medi Assist and technology leadership go hand in hand. Our technology platform, MediBuddy, is today a significant differentiator for us.
What are the areas where Medi Assist offers its products?
Our twin focus areas today are to enable zero-friction access to health benefits for every individual member and to make these services available in a cashless format for our members anywhere in the country. This includes the entire gamut of healthcare services that our members would potentially access during their lifecycle – preventive care, in-patient care, pharmacy benefits, chronic lifestyle condition management, maternity and senior care.
What are the specific challenges and opportunities offered by the Indian market?
India is unique, diverse and price sensitive. Healthcare in a large and populous country like India can be particularly challenging. There are three emerging requirements that we are trying to address today with technology. Young urban Indians are taking to fitness and running in a big way. We are looking to address this need for making fitness a seamless part of their everyday life with mFitness, mobile phone based fitness, apps for walking, running and bodyweight fitness. We are also building a strong network of service providers who can provide cashless access to preventive care.
Then there is the burgeoning middle class with steadily rising disposable incomes that is aspiring for better quality of care for their families. For this price-sensitive segment, we are putting together services like eCashless that gives our members the convenience of planning their cashless hospitalisation using their mobile phones and importantly get full visibility into the cost of treatment upfront. We are also looking to optimise utilisation of their health benefits by simplifying access to a wide range of in-patient and out-patient services in a cashless format.
On the other end of the spectrum are the beneficiaries of the various government sponsored healthcare schemes for underprivileged Indians. For these families, we are working on building a pan-India network of hospitals that are on a common platform to enable us to deliver faster cashless facility while also making affordable healthcare accessible to the masses in far-flung areas.
Is the Indian eco-system conducive for nurturing innovation?
There has never been a better time for innovation in India. ‘Make in India’ is putting the focus back on the Indian manufacturing industry. The Indian services sector is slowly but surely maturing towards R&D and value added solution development. Frugal innovation in India is showing the way forward for many other developing nations. India undoubtedly has great potential in the years to come.
What are your plans for the Indian market in this fiscal?
Our plan is to focus on the individual member and on the experience we deliver to each member. Zero-friction access to quality care and access to these healthcare services in the cashless format will be our focus for the year.
Can you elaborate on your investment strategies?
Our members and their emerging requirements define our tie-ups and investments. We will continue to first identify emerging requirements, evaluate whether we should address these requirements from within or partner with like-minded organisations, and allow this philosophy to guide our strategic partnership and investment decisions.
Raising funds is, once again, a derivative of investment decisions we make and the strategic partnerships we choose to form. Our partner of choice would be one that is aligned with the vision and focus of the organisation and its leadership.
Our recent investment in Mobiefit is an excellent example of our investment philosophy. We were looking to address the need for everyday fitness for our members. In Mobiefit, we found the right team and offering to address this need; and that cemented our strategic partnership. We will continue to look for opportunities to serve current, emerging and latent needs of our members.