Tag: futuristic healthcare

The Future of Virtual Health

How do healthcare leaders see it? 

We all have seen virtual health gaining momentum in the last few years. During this time we’ve experienced it becoming a core component in helping consumers improve or maintain their well-being. However, it has also raised a number of concerns regarding Adaptability, Accessibility, Security and Sustainability. 

This article will give you a little sneak peek into healthcare leaders’ perspectives about virtual health and its future in India. 

Let’s dive right in! 

Did you know – In 2019, India’s telemedicine industry was around 829 million U.S. dollars. This market size is forecast to elevate significantly in the coming years, reaching approximately 5.4 billion U.S. dollars by 2025.

The probable reason behind this expansion is empowered consumers, radically interoperable data, and scientific & technological advances. Which has given a chance to care professionals to connect with the consumers while:

  • Making the care accessible 
  • Reducing the cost of the care 
  • Speeding up the care process

However, the pre-existing Indian healthcare system needs a little something extra to thrive under these technological advancements. And here the assisted care module comes in! 

The maximum Indian population resides in rural areas that have a literacy rate of 68.91 and in order to enhance the accessibility of care virtually, they need assisted-telehealth modules. Or else, healthtech companies merely be introducing ‘smart applications’ with a limited consumer base. 

With virtual care modules, stakeholders are also looking forward to reducing medical costs while providing competent care in a more efficient way. 

But, can virtual care really save money? 

Yes! A telehealth consultation is typically less expensive than an in-person visit to a doctor’s office. Virtual consultation is witnessing action-packed years enabling care providers to connect with their patients anytime and from anywhere. 

Also, to this effect, In India – healthcare kiosks can ensure deeper penetration in remote areas while efficiently running healthcare campaigns. The most amazing aspect of such a module is the doctor’s convenience of consulting patients directly from his clinic. Such facilities can be efficiently managed by local/regional care practitioners on a daily basis under the supervision of a specialist. 

This way virtual health reduces multiple visits to the doctor’s clinic. Moreso, it also reduces the average wait time. 

Fun Fact: You know the prospects of cost reduction with virtual care looks so promising that even the tech giant Amazon jumped in the fray with Amazon Care. 

According to the renowned leaders of the industry, virtual health is a key component of our future of an ideal healthcare vision. The growing popularity of virtual care has created more entrepreneurial opportunities, but such systems have also seen healthtech platforms utilising patient data under the pretext of “Smart Applications”. The only way forward in virtual care is to understand the sensitivity of this aspect instead of selling the medical data to the highest bidder! 

Virtual health can allow high-quality access to care that can enhance provider-patient interactions, yet patient data safety has become one of the major concerns. Although putting an end to breaching is not humanly possible, integrated access-based control systems with secured data policy can maximize patient data security. 

Healthcare disparities and virtual care! 

The conventional Indian healthcare system is dealing with health disparities for a very long time. Virtual healthcare platforms can not only assist care professionals to address disparities in access to healthcare services but, also derive better health outcomes. 

According to National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report, several remote locations in India have seen a decline in healthcare disparities, especially for poor and uninsured population areas. 

HArbor Says: The health care system we know today is progressing towards change embracing technology. However, technology can only be a medium for providing optimum care. Ideal virtual healthcare for the future must overcome the pre-existing challenges in the healthcare system while overcoming the limitations of its own. 

Urban Healthcare: Responsibility to Reach Beyond the Cities for Care Delivery

The healthcare stakeholders seem to be enjoying the healthTech wave in India. A recent report also proved that the HealthTech industry in India is expected to flourish with a total economic value of US $50 billion by 2033 (Source – RBSA).

Yet still, why have these healthtech innovations not been able to penetrate the remote areas, especially villages to facilitate optimum medical care. The article explores the following points to elaborate further on the topic:

  • Issues with penetration of healthTech in villages.
  • The solution for the existing healthTech issues. 
  • Impact of these solutions on Bharat economy.

Let’s get started!

Challenges faced by urban medicos while delivering care 

Over the last few years, the Indian healthcare system has undergone dramatic changes with the introduction of technology. Yet, there is a huge gap in care delivery mainly resulting because of the urban to rural doctor density ratio of 3.8:1. 

This is why every year – 86% of all the medical visits in India are made by Ruralites, still traveling more than 100 km to avail health care facilities. Out of which 48% of them are emergency overnight trips (source: NCBI). 

Logically thinking, the easiest solution for these problems would be building healthcare facilities in the village itself. But would that be economically feasible? 

NO!

Here are some of the factors, that a medical practitioner would consider before building a healthcare facility: 

  • The total cost of building a healthcare facility in a village.
  • Availability of the paying population.
  • Availability of other healthcare stakeholders like pharmacies & diagnostic centers.
  • Trained medical staff to provide effective patient care.

Keeping these basic points in mind, the majority of doctors or healthcare facilities are generally reluctant to build such infrastructures. 

This problem has somewhat been addressed in urban & suburban places with the introduction of Telemedicine. According to a recent study, during the COVID pandemic – India has seen a 500% rise in healthcare teleconsultation, out of which 80% were first-time users. 

Yet, why hasn’t this incredible healthTech boom reached the villages? 

A rural patient may be equipped with a smartphone but lacks the complicated nature of the healthcare ecosystem thus leaving them more frustrated with virtual care than providing relief. Other basic functions like bill payment and checking the patient queue considered essential from the doctor’s perspective are not possible, due to low literacy rate & unavailability of transactional modes.

Ordering medicines from a pharmacy application or booking a telemedicine appointment may seem like just a few taps on urban patient’s smartphones, although it is much more difficult for a rural patient. 

This implies that the current form of Telemedicine can never be the means of interacting with village patients for a virtual consultation! 

The solutions for creating healthtech inclusive of Indian villagers.

Even though the urban population has taken basic advantage of HealthTech, the rural healthcare systems are facing pre-existing healthcare issues along with the newly emerged tech troubles. 

So shall we resolve them? 

Yes!

Upgrade from the practices of creating brick and mortar care centers & create lightweight movable assets for quick setups and complete care. These healthcare Kiosks should provide assisted telemedicine care, enabling the village/rural/remote patients to access care efficiently.  

Now, will assisted care prove to be better than just telemedicine application?

Firstly, the kiosk centers should be administered by doctor assistants to provide round-the-clock medical care. More so, when the patient will be interacting with the doctor in-charge on a video consultation, the assistant will help the patient to state all the symptoms, which will enhance patient care along with reducing any possibilities of error. 

Furthermore, these doctor-trained assistants should be equipped with basic diagnostic kits, vaccines, and medicines to provide primary care, if necessary. More so, the assistants placed can be a local care practitioner or even a quack – interacting with the patients in their regional language. 

This futuristic & effective digital care model for evaluating, diagnosing & treating patients without the patients needing to visit facilities, may help us achieve the best care possible for the rural population in India!

Also, wouldn’t this care delivery module have a small, yet significant impact on the Indian economy? 

Yes, definitely!

These light-weighted movable assets can be easily established in multiple villages while providing essential medical care to the patients. These simple yet effective care units can also be used to provide emergency care to the patients while connecting with specialists living in any part of the world!

And now that patients no longer have to travel to the cities for primary care, the cost of care can be reduced without any additional expenditure.

HArbor Says: It’s time that we start thinking about taking healthTech beyond the cities when India’s maximum population lives in the villages! Let’s rethink healthcare from the eyes of a villager.  

Post Pandemic Boom: Is our industry retail ready?

COVID pandemic has shown, that even the mightiest of the care facilities needed to evolve in order to keep the “business” going and yet the majority of them are struggling to keep it sustainable.

We need to evolve as an industry and keep a broader perspective towards rebuilding healthcare around retail space. We need to marginalize caregiving to an extent where profits are not driven by the number of beds a hospital can keep occupied but by improving the efficiency of processes adopted in the retail space with lesser infrastructure.

With an ever-growing population, we can never build enough beds simply because of the overhead cost attached to it. But if we are able to optimize caregiving in the retail, Out Patient space, the requirement of more & more beds would be simply diminished. Yes, we would still need tertiary care units, but the majority of the population would be reluctant to visit a #medico sitting in a large building surrounded by diseases of various origins.

Instead of building bigger and grandeur hospital buildings, let us build a futuristic system focused on Retail healthcare and enabling full care protocols for patients unwilling to come to hospitals. Let us evolve OPD, to an extent where, we not only be able to give our patients teleconsultation but also the entire care package right from their homes by integrating diagnostic, pharmacies, nurses & even the receptionists on the same eCare platform. Homecare for mild and moderate diseases must be a norm and should be an extended arm of retail caregiving.

For centers and cases where physical visits are unavoidable, we should be able to build contact less interactions and flows for the patients and they should physically meet only the doctor in his chamber. Automated Digital Reception Desks, should be a must-have addition and one of the few tangible infrastructure investments the medical industry should look at.

HarborSays, the Post pandemic boom is coming and our industry must gear up to take the most advantage of it. The future of caregiving is retail.