The world is changing, changing at a much faster rate than ever anticipated. At the heart of this change is technology. With the advancement of technology and its penetration in various sectors like retail, banking etc., there is a conscious demand for better engagement and quality services in the healthcare sector as well.
Customers are at the epi-center of this change and are looking forward to intuitive, smart interactions as opposed to the traditional models of care delivery. Care delivery is also moving from core to care, with focus on providing value-based services. Emerging technologies such as big data analytics, blockchain and IoT are driving this transition from traditional to ‘smart’. Smart Healthcare is aimed at improving the delivery of quality healthcare services and enabling care to all.
The three pivots which would be major tenets for this change are and are in line with the mega trend of value based care:
1. People: With increasing consumerism, patients are at the driver’s seat, and will be in the center of the entire healthcare ecosystem.
2. Data: Data will be one of the strongest buzzwords in the years to come. Electronic Health Records (EHRs) will become Comprehensive Health Records (CHRs) to accommodate data from many sources including remote health care data and social determinants of healthcare.
3. Technology: Emerging technologies like AI, cognitive, machine learning will unlock the value of data, and open source technologies like blockchain, will help to address the challenges related to security and privacy.
When we shift the focus to India, we find that the healthcare needs of our country are diverse. Though healthcare in India is a necessity, it comes packaged as a luxury. To combat the dual disease burden of our country, innovative solutions, unconventional business models and unorthodox care delivery systems would be the key drivers of healthcare. Indian healthcare is on the cusp of a digital transformation. India’s digital connectivity is poised to grow at an accelerated rate from 30 per cent in 2017 to 80 per cent in 2034, and is driving the following trends:
a. Flipped care: Similar to most sectors around the world, focus has shifted from the provider to the patient. “Flipped health care” puts control in the hands of patients, with the goal of improving health and care delivery while also reducing the cost.
b. m-Health: m-Health incorporates the use of mobiles and wireless technology in the healthcare sector. Mobile health is a major segment, with an estimated market size of 2083 crore INR in 2015 and set to rise to 5184 crore INR by 2020. Mobile applications especially doctor-patient connect and those centered around “Quantified self” will be a major segment.
c. Front line innovations: Low-cost portable innovations to cater to the needs of our vast rural population will help increase access by providing Point of Care diagnostics, teleconsultations etc.
For a good digital healthcare strategy, it is essential to ensure that data is available in a digitized format. This data should also be seamlessly connected to the patient medical records (EMR), Hospital Information Systems (HIS), Lab Information Systems (LIS). Technology advancements like artificial intelligence, machine learning and deep learning, can also continuously monitor and flag critical alerts, and thus ensure pro-active, quality care is provided at the right time, thereby reducing the pressure on the current clinical set-up.
Technology will facilitate a tectonic shift from traditional to transformative care by being Predictive, Preventive, Personalized and Participatory. A connected health ecosystem with the key tenets of smart, personalized, portable and virtual, can aid the improvement in focus on preventive, diagnostics and wellness, and reduce the load on therapeutic in the entire spectrum of care.
The surge in the usage of mobile phones and data in countries across the globe have led to the consequent rise in mobile health applications, from 16 per cent in 2014 to 48 per cent, during the past few years. Today, penetration of basic network connectivity, especially in rural areas is still a challenge. Rural parts of the country hosting large populations, still lack access to innovations.
Lack of uniform standards, regulations and disparate technologies currently act as impediments to large scale adoption of smart solutions. Data security is another critical point which needs to be addressed in technological adoption.
If standardisation, and basic infrastructure is made available, there is a huge opportunity to innovate in healthcare. We can use technology as a key enabler to promote better health, lower costs and ensure last mile connectivity.