| Manish Menda |
Making healthcare affordable and accessible for all its citizens is one of the key focus areas of a country today. In India where healthcare services still do not reach many pockets of the country, it becomes an even bigger challenge. Many patients even today delay their treatment plans due to lack of funds thereby weaning themselves from a better quality of life.
Unlike the West where there are many financing schemes available for patients, India has not caught up to the trend as yet. Also, given the relative absence of insurance reimbursement for expensive treatments such as IVF, dental procedures, hair transplant or bariatric, and the relatively high cost for the same, many people are unable to realise their dreams.
Patient financing is a niche area and India is an under-served market. In an environment of low public financing for health in India, the new generation of patient financing initiatives is increasing patient choice, and leveraging private capacity, particularly with an aim of reaching maximum number of people.
Additionally, with such financing methods it’s not just the patient who benefits; the advantages to the practice itself are many; ranging from improved doctor-patient relationship to healthier bottom lines.
The pay-as-you-go approach is a great model for countries like India where there is no reimbursement system and expenditure on health is largely out-of-pocket. In US, pharma expenses are about 8-15 per cent of total healthcare cost while in India it may go as high as 60 per cent in therapies.
Millions of middle-class families every day, come face to face with the harsh Indian reality – lack of safety net for health. Few Indians have health insurance (which in turn covers selected traditional medical ailments) and the cost of private healthcare comes at a premium.
Offering financial assistance to patients in their time of need at a relatively low interest EMI model is a boon for the middle-class Indian society, specifically during super-speciality treatments such as IVF and orthopaedic surgery.
How can patient financing benefit your practice?
- Timely payments, the opportunity to re-invest revenue immediately
- Empowers your practice to offer patients helpful payment alternatives that are convenient, simple and affordable
- Enables patients to access treatments which they might not have been able to afford
- Transfers the risk of slow or non-paying patients resulting in lower administrative, personnel, overhead and collection related costs, giving you a strong bottom line
- Eliminates the need for negotiated payment arrangements
- Avoids the extension of payment beyond the treatment period
- Builds stronger doctor patient relationships
- Enables coverage for pre-existing conditions
- Eliminates the need for financial pre-screening which is already done at the loan submission level.
How does a patient financing model work?
With patient financing models, patients have a simple, affordable way to pay for their treatment through a monthly payment plan. Payments are designed to fit within their budgets. The healthcare provider will be paid once the payment request is made for the sanctioned amount. You and your designated staff merely tell the patients that there is a payment option available.
The loan can be used to cover all or some portion of the procedure cost. Depending upon the approved amount the patient could choose to pay the balance in cash. Once the loan is approved, a sanction letter is generated and sent to the patient and the healthcare provider.
Additionally, if the loan account holder defaults on their account, your practice is not held responsible.
It is extremely important to note that there will be no extra charges for the patient in the hospital or clinic. A patient only needs to bear the financing charges for the loan to be paid over a period of time.
Patient financing is a revolutionary model in comparison to the regular health insurance as it offers considerably low interest rates and enables patients to access a range of healthcare procedures.
Examples of practices to be considered
- Fertility treatments
- Bariatric and plastic surgery
- Orthopaedic procedures
- Dental procedures
- Hair transplants
- Urology surgeries
- Gynaecology procedures
- Ophthalmology procedures
- ENT surgery
- Cancer treatment
- Cardiology
- General surgery
Roles and responsibilities
A patient financing company, Mya Health Credit intends to offer loans to patients for financing of pharma prescriptions worth over Rs 75,000 for a tenure of 12, 18 or 24 months. This facility will also include financing of medical devices which too can be extremely expensive.
Mya Health Credit empowers the practice to offer patients helpful payment alternatives that are convenient, simple and affordable. It is a clear route to heartfelt gratitude.
Promising future of healthcare in India
The Indian healthcare sector is here to evolve to a state where it will reach out to patients across varied income groups. People will have multiple options to access healthcare from a variety of different insurance schemes, government schemes or patient financing programmes.
Insurance plans are already starting to evolve and the government is working on various healthcare programmes all over India. The key will be consumer choice in the future where the end user will have access to a plethora of options.