Ravi Gopal, VP and Global Head of Healthcare, Xchanging opines that technological innovation in healthcare is the need of the hour as they will pave the way for improved patient care
Change is in the air. With the advent of a new government in India, there is a high emphasis on the use of technology in the healthcare sector to improve the quality of services. The healthcare sector in India is slated to grow at a CAGR of 15 per cent to touch $158.2 billion in 2017 from $78.6 billion in 2012, according to a report by Equentis Capital. We are a country currently undergoing a dynamic shift in demographics and per capita incomes. There is a rising awareness of healthcare facilities. In the next few years, increasing consumer awareness and provision of better facilities will put India’s healthcare sector on the global map.
Are we ready to ride this tide? As per the vision of the new government, India is now looking forward to an all-inclusive healthcare policy that will support empowerment, equity and efficiency. Technology will play a major part in leading this to fruition. By the use of technology, quality healthcare services can reach the most rural parts of India, which accounts for more than 70 percent of the population.
With investments surging in the private sector, the healthcare services delivery is picking pace by the second. India’s vast population, particularly in the rural stretch, is a potential demand source. The Indian medical tourism industry is estimated at $1 billion per annum, growing at around 18 per cent, and is expected to touch $2 billion by 2015. There is a huge scope for enhancing healthcare services as the healthcare spending as a percentage of GDP is rising. Thus, healthcare in modern-day India provides existing and new players with a huge opportunity to achieve innovation, differentiation and profits.
Technology – Just what the doctor ordered
Technological innovation in healthcare is the need of the hour. Service providers need to constantly explore latest technologies while remaining cost effective and providing affordable patient care. Governments need to leverage information as a tool to make effective decisions regarding the healthcare needs of the public.
Telemedicine is the bridge between the rural-urban gap. The Indian government is working on national level telemedicine projects to provide healthcare facilities to the rural parts of the country. With internet penetration increasing in India, hospitals have started looking at online tools as a viable option. For eg., the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has recently launched its pre-registration portal for patient’s appointment and admission. They will also be able to check test reports online. Theranos, a US-based consumer healthcare technology company has come up with a latest technology which reduces the amount of blood drawn for performing lab tests. A tiny drop of blood can help conduct 30 tests. The use of innovative technology not only brings down the cost for patients drastically, but also greatly eases their stress and pain of going through multiple lab tests.
The advantages of technology in the healthcare sector should not be restricted to patient care. It is equally relevant for administration and back office services. Technology has changed the way BPS companies are positioning themselves as providers of integrated services. Mobile diagnostic kits, particularly in developing countries, can help in preventive healthcare. Access to advanced diagnostic technologies can help reveal diabetes, cancer or even cardiovascular diseases. However, success in medical technological innovation is mainly dependent on factors such as powerful financial incentives, a supportive regulatory system, and fostering an environment for quality research.
Make it Indi(a)genous
Medical technological innovation in India can happen with a strong support from the government for local manufacturing and furthering the development of low cost products. Local manufacturing will not only help in the production of low cost devices, but also increase the volume of products. In a country like India, the volume of these products needs to be scaled to keep pace with the demand.
Analytics – The secret weapon
While IT continues to build, maintain and refine processes, data scientists are needed to figure out ways to mine information from clinical and operational data; follow best practices and create information-driven plans for patient care. Medical organisations need to differentiate their services by applying data analytics with proper reporting methodologies.
Data mining systems can create a global warehouse in a cloud-based infrastructure and can serve as a Business Process as a Service (BPaaS) to the healthcare sector. BPaaS is now expanding and reaching to Software as a Service (SaaS) by not just focusing on basic back office or transactional business processes. BPaaSis expanding into services such as healthcare claims processing, trade settlements, and clinical data management.
The future is here
The healthcare business model in India is evolving to deliver better services to the patients while ensuring that there is minimum legal complexity involved. Best practices from the US and other developed countries could be a point of reference for the Indian healthcare sector.
As per the new government’s manifesto, India would need a holistic care system that is universally accessible, affordable and cost effective. As outlined in the manifesto, the government plans, “to utilise the ubiquitous platform of mobile phones for healthcare delivery and set up the ‘National eHEALTH Authority’ to leverage telemedicine and mobile healthcare for expanding reach and coverage and to define the standards and legal framework for technology driven care”. With a simple motive to ensure that patients and their kin face no stress beyond the medical circumstance, it is highly critical that a team of dynamic entrepreneurs take up this challenge. Entrepreneurs must come up with a niche, unified and centralised solution to ease the management processes at hospitals, improving the overall experience of not just patients, but the doctors and other staff.
Technology-enabled healthcare solutions and disruptive technologies will show the way to improve patient care.
Companies that focus keenly on delivering the best services available by leveraging technology, data analytics, automation, and commercial models such as BPaaS, will not only thrive, but bring about a much-awaited positive change to the healthcare sector.
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