2016 – Internet of Things to Internet of Healthcare

The year ahead will see more consolidation in multi-speciality healthcare delivery format, says Vishal Bali, Chairman and Co-founder of Medwell Ventures

The healthcare sector in 2015 saw transformation on two fronts. The start-up ecosystem saw the emergence of 300 healthcare start ups with 36 of them going through early round funding. Eight years after the last healthcare IPO hit the primary markets, the year saw two leading players in the sector go through their listing process. The private equity world continues to see healthcare as a key investment opportunity guided by the demand supply equation of the sector in India. A sign of changing times for the sector defined sharply by the forces of consumerism and the power of the investment world to back the new consumer-centric models of healthcare.

20 start ups ranging from home health, med tech to clinicians platform having the ability to revolutionise the sector were the key themes for the year. The Internet of things finally saw its impact towards the Internet of healthcare. While the future truly will belong to reducing the infrastructure gap in terms of hospital beds availability, the play in healthcare is certainly going the digital way.

2016 promises to being with it a second wave of digital health disruption. Wearables, nearables, point of care diagnostics, virtual care, remote health apps, the connected healthcare consumer will support the creation of powerful health platforms. We will see the acceleration of the asset light healthcare delivery system to support the wider healthcare agenda for India. 3D printing application and its maturity during the year will help revolutionise surgery and its positive impact in patient care. IBM’s Watson which has become the symbol of artificial intelligence in medicine will hopefully see a wider application during the year and a new wave of AI will help transform the delivery of care.

The year ahead will see more consolidation in the multi-speciality healthcare delivery format, mergers of competencies and scale up around the single speciality formats will rise. Start ups focused on long-term sustainability, proven outcomes and leap forward solutions with unit economics in place will drive 2016.