2nd Innings for the Family Doctor

The concept of the friendly neighborhood family physician that once was termed to be an endangered species is now resurrecting and gaining momentum. There are efforts taken by various healthcare groups to revive this concept and include vocational training in family medicine as part of medical education. On the similar lines the father-son duo, Dr Gautam Sen, Chairman & Co-founder, Healthspring Community Medical Centres and former member of the Board of Governors of the Medical Council of India along with Kaushik Sen - CEO & Co-founder, Healthspring Community Medical Centres last year initiated a unique business model that brings back the concept of family physician in a modern setting. This business model is developed with an objective to deliver premium healthcare in India. Healthspring aspires to fill this vacuum in the primary and secondary healthcare delivery system in the country through a chain of community medical centres. The company has tied up with the renowned National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence International, (NICE) UK, to focus on providing preventive medicine that meets international standards and follows evidence-based best-in-class pathways, thereby keeping its patients healthier. In order to provide specialised care, Healthspring has also tied up with the best specialists and hospitals to provide higher-level care, thereby offering a seamless service to its patients. Raelene Kambli chats with the father-son duo to understand their business model

What were the significant observations you made before coming up with this business model?

Dr Gautam Sen & Kaushik Sen

Healthcare is a rapidly growing sector in India, but continues to be very fragmented. With the imminent retirement of an entire generation of family doctors, many patients do not know whom to trust or turn to in their time of need.

Tell us about the uniqueness of this new business model? What is its USP?

We envision Healthspring as the institution that patients can trust over all others, in every situation. Its features are: a modern and ethical family doctor set-up supported by a 24x7 call centre, in-house pharmacy and pathology laboratory, online medical records and practicing care that incorporates the latest international protocols and evidence-based medicine. We will also provide a doctor-on-call, efficient emergency response system to customers living near our Community Medical Centres, and ensure that our doctors are always purely focussed on patient welfare, not commercial compulsions. Moreover, we follow the four pillars that define our approach to delivery primary healthcare. These pillars include:

Excellence in quality of care

• Invest in our medical team - keep their knowledge and skills up to date.
• Approach to care is evidence based and guided by care pathways.
• Proactively promote preventive and anticipatory care.
• Recognise and work within the limits of their competence.
• Work with colleagues in the ways that best serve the patients’ interest.
• Maintain meaningful records of patients’ health.

Excellence in customer experience

• Treat patients with respect and dignity; respect privacy and confidentiality.
• Patients as partners in the experience.
• Respect for a patient’s time and concerns.
• Be honest and open, and act with integrity.
• Every team member has a role to play in patient experience.

Transparency

• Full access to medical records, history and other information.
• Clearly defined pricing for the patient.

Ethics

• Doctors freed from financial pressure, temptation of referral fees and outside practice.

How do you differentiate Healthspring from the rest?

At Healthspring, we want people to begin a new patient-doctor relationship.

Healthspring’s doctors follow the latest evidence-based pathways and international care protocols, to deliver quality care consistently, Most important, we have a focus on appropriate care—ruling out over-diagnosis, but making sure we don’t miss out anything important either. Our patient-first approach translates into great customer experience, through, among others, respect for the patients’ time (minimum wait time, everything under one roof, enough time with the doctor), being there for the patient in their time of highest need (emergency, home visits), as well as the use of modern technology such as electronic medical records. We believe that the Indian patient today is looking for a more substantial and honest offering and Healthspring has been conceptualised to meet these needs, with the aim of transforming healthcare delivery in India.

What was the source of funding for the company?

We have raised around Rs 20 crore and have received investments from Catamaran Ventures, Reliance Ventures, BlueCross BlueShield Ventures and Sandbox Industries.

What strategies do you plan to adopt for future expansion?

We will first focus on setting around 15-20 centres in all metros and then branch out to other tier II cities. Our aim is to have atleast one centre in each city of India. Basically we want to build a patients' brand where people will once again place their trust in the family doctors.

raelene.kambli@expressindia.com