Category Archives: HealthCare in India

Building the Healthcare ecosystem

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Over the last two years, Healthcare has been on an exponential growth. Previously, Healthcare was limited to professionals who have been in the field and others stayed away from it even though they thought they could solve the problems. However, things changed. There are many non-Healthcare professionals who have been in the technology space who are partnering with people from other streams to solve and address the Healthcare needs.

Today, there is more than $100 Billion riding on Healthcare technology alone in India with expectations of it growing to $280 Billion by 2020.

What we have today is the opportunity to identify the pain points and build a workable solution around it. This provides the opportunity to look at aspects which were non-existent earlier. For instance, with the advent of apps being available for finding Doctors and medical services in a particular area, provided an opportunity for people to explore nearest medical services and get just in time help.

With Doctor’s consultations being available on Skype, it is easy now to find a specialist and set up an appointment and speak to them in detail. The list goes on.

What we need to focus is to build sustainable models which can be replicated across. Moving away from the core infrastructure problems such as Doctor:Patient ratio has not even started with the advent of technology, but on a long run, this can be addressed.

Startup’s focusing on addressing Healthcare should understand what is the existing infrastructure and how we can utilise it to build our offering around it. In simple words, building mutually inclusive offerings is the need of the hour.

How Google is influencing Healthcare in India

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Google today announced that it will make available access to more than 400 health conditions on their search site in English and Hindi for the India’s population. This feature is already available in the US and recently they have also started in Brazil.
In India Google will do a check of the condition and symptoms partnering with Apollo Hospitals and Columbia Asia.
Google being the go-to site for search, Google wants to bring Health education to the finger tips of its users. With mobile subscriptions crossing over 800 Million and phone based search reaching more than half a billion users, this will definitely help users to be more aware of themselves and the symptoms they have.
I wrote about educating the Healthcare consumer few days ago and this is one way of educating the consumer. I am sure that over the period of time, Google may start suggesting the Doctors / Hospitals / Clinics you can visit for the kind of symptom you have searched including providing finger tip taxi booking along with medicine delivery.
Is this not what the future is?

Educating the Healthcare Consumer

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There are over 1000 startups just focusing on Healthcare in India and we see more and more coming up each day. If you look at the pattern of the startups, predominantly we see competitive startup’s. There is one person who is wanting to solve a problem and they are many others following the trend but with an additional feature or functionality. Consider finding Doctors as a pain point. There are few early adopters like Practo, but over the last eight years, there are more than 50 startups in the same space offering similar services. The next thing what happened is the startups have diversified to different cities becoming first in their city. Competition is good, the consumer gets to taste more convenience and functionality. But what should not happen is withdrawal from using technology.
The key area what we need to focus is to streamline the problem-solving abilities and diversify the solution offerings based on the regional requirement. One solution does not fit all.
Consumer education plays a very vital role in building a successful startup and solving a problem. The key aspect of Consumer education is to reach out to the end user and help them utilize services available and for this, education should start at the ground level. Reaching out and working with NGO’s who work with varied population, partnering with Primary Health Centers, organizing educative seminars and workshops at meeting points (Panchayat meetings, Locality meetings etc.) will go a long way.

What has changed in Indian Healthcare landscape?

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According to the World Economic Form and Harvard Public School, the probability of during the most productive years – 30 Years to 70 Years is predominantly because of non-communicable diseases like Heart stroke, heart diseases, pulmonary diseases, and diabetes. This is accounting to 26% of death’s in India in this age group.
India struggled to bring down the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) which have been the key metrics. However, over the last two decades, this has significantly come down and it is on a positive note.
While we are improving on the metrics, due to the changes in lifestyle, there are non-communicable diseases which are increasing leading to disparities in the Healthcare in the country. The Government’s spending on Healthcare has also has been reducing.
Private Healthcare services is on the rise. This calls for out-of-pocket expenditure on Healthcare. Since India has a good number of people living below the Above Poverty Line, the affordability for quality Health services is also one of the primary reason for the rise in non-communicable disease not being addressed at the appropriate time. Most of the out-of-pocket expenses are for medicines.
With startup’s focusing on bringing Healthcare to all (even though the predominant acceptance is in Tire 1 and 2 Cities), I look at this as a possible approach to bridge the gap between Doctor and the Patient. Looking at the mobile penetration rate which has crossed over 800 Million today, I personally see that technology can help bridge the gap.
What we need at this time is the education of the consumer on how to use the services.

Dosha Vs Personalized Medicine

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I shared my thoughts on Personalized Medicine being the future of medicine earlier. Recently, I saw a TEDx Talk by Dr. Russ Altman on the topic of Personalized Prescription.

What Dr. Russ talks about is how medications works differently on various kinds of bodies and he uses examples to demonstrate how Codin works on different people. For few, it works like a magic and for few others, it does not help at all.

Our body is made of molecules and medicines are a combination of various elements working with these molecules to bring down the pain which our body is going through.

Now, let us look at the Dosha’s in our body as described in Ayurveda. The human body is categorized into 3 Dosha’s (Vata, Pitta, and Kapha). Ayurveda is the science of handling ailments based on the body type and customized treatment.

I am looking at comparing and contrasting as to what Dr. Russ is saying and what we already have in India.

A combination of Personalized Prescription and Ayurveda is something which will benefit the human kind.

What can we do next?

Experience – Future of Healthcare

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There are more than 50,000 apps which track your health on a mobile phone today. There are numerous wearables which track various vital statistics of the human body. There are good number of companies which are helping address various aliments through technology.
There are pure Healthcare technology companies which are removing paper from Hospitals by building software to improve efficiencies.
One aspect organizations and startup’s should focus on is providing experience.
Experience changes everything. The one experience which makes things happen is the feeling of good and satisfaction. Healthcare is is a very important industry which today by any metric lacks in satisfaction levels. Hospitals focus too much on either financials or turn around time or efficiencies or quantity of services provided. Most of the times, the patient experience is either missed or ignored.
Experience is something what we need to focus on. Experience in care, experience in treatment and experience in the way Hospitals interact with their clients.
The feel good experience is what changes the way Health care is viewed and delivered.

Anatomy of Healthcare Startup’s

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Healthcare startup’s have raised close to $10 Billion worldwide in 2015 and the numbers are only increasing.
What is interesting is apart from the e-Commerce, finding Doctors and Networking for Doctors, today’s startup’s are addressing almost all parts of the human body re-defining the way we live.
What components of the Human Body are startup’s addressing? 
 
Brain
Autoimmune
Lungs
Liver
Blood
Heart
Gastrointestinal
Kidney
How is it each of the components are being looked at by technologists? We will go deeper into them soon.

Direct 2 Consumer

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In this era of Digital Health, Entrepreneurs and Organizations are beginning to reach the Consumer directly in building an ecosystem for their offerings. In Healthcare, mostly Business 2 Business is the prevailing approach.

For a home Diabetic testing machine, earlier Physician/Hospital used to recommend a particular product, but today, manufacturers are reaching to Consumers directly and Consumer is having all the information at their fingertips which is helping them to buy the product of their choice.

Earlier manufacturers used to focus on Business 2 Business, but today this just does not end here. If a consumer is not happy with the offering, the business collapses.

In the Indian Healthcare scenario, Direct 2 Consumer model brings in stronger following allowing for quicker feedback loops and helping organizations to better their service.

For any technology company, the key attribute of the success of their idea is Consumer base. The bigger the signup’s, the larger is the ecosystem. The larger the ecosystem, more successful is the business model. Look at startup’s like Practo who provide Doctor, Hospital, Lab etc search with ratings? Consumers are getting a sneak peak at what kind of service they can expect even before they go. Companies like this will focus on building their consumer base which will help them build an ecosystem. The ecosystem can do more than just merely providing service.

Direct 2 Consumer is just not with Technology or Home use products. It is with all businesses impacting Healthcare.

Big Data in Healthcare

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Big Data is going to change the way we live. Wearable devices, Insurance claim information, Electronic Medical Records, Apps collecting data on phone etc are all good samaritans of Big Data.

What can we do with Big Data – Analysis, Predictions, Preventive Care, Best Practices etc are few of the aspects which we can derive from the Data.

There are various sources of data and the need of the hour is tools which can comprehend the details of this data to make it meaningful and usable.

If you look at the investment trends, Healthcare Investments have grown over 176% in 2015 and majority of the investments are in Data Analytics.

We have not yet scratched the tip of the iceberg and personally I feel the next decade will be focused on making meaningful use of the big data.

Do you have a pathbreaking algorithm which we can start with?

To startup in Healthcare – Focus on Domain

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Healthcare is the hottest sector to startup in any part of the world. There is a complete paradigm shift in how Health is being delivered. It is no longer going to see a Doctor or visit a Hospital, Healthcare is beginning at home. Preventive and Proactive Care delivery is fast gaining acceptance.

Technology is indeed helping bridge large part of the ecosystem. Smartphone and apps are bringing care to our fingertips.

When you are thinking of starting up in Healthcare using technology it is very important to understand the domain.

Recently, the DCGI (Drugs Controller General of India) asked the state government’s to take action against ePharmacies which are selling drugs online. Why? There are definitely legal aspects which need to be take care. The prescription based drugs need supervision and it is not that difficult to get prescriptions. Also, the medicines need to be authenticated by a Pharmacist before they are consumed. Since duplicate drugs are prevalent in the market, Government wants to ensure there is a process which is set before medicines are sold remotely.

For building Healthcare related apps and technology, it is very important to understand the details of the law and how the workflows actually flow. There are quite a few details which need to be understood and applied to ensure the best is delivered.

Understanding Domain is just not understanding how the workflow is, but understanding how the care is delivered. There is a difference in the workflow and administering care. Workflow shows how a diagnosis is performed for the symptoms and administering care is to ensure that the ailment is cured and the client (patient) is completely recovered.

With the growing acceptance of Internet based care, I am sure India will have laws built around the same, but before that, if you are looking at starting up in Healthcare space, focus on understanding the Domain, Workflow, how tests are interrelated to the care, how medicines are administered and finally how the care is delivered. This is what will make your startup successful and accepted.