The story of Jens Danstrup explains the potential of patient care at home through digital technology in India. Jens Danstrup, a 77-year-old retired architect from Denmark had weakened lungs due to smoking which made it difficult for him to even walk to his doctor’s place. Digital technology helped him go to the doctor without leaving home, using easy to use devices with a personal computer and a web camera. He is able to take his weekly medical readings, which are logged into his electronic records. He is also able to sit on his desk and video chat with his nurse who is located several kilometres away.
Moreover, Jens can clip an electronic pulse reader in his finger and easily send his readings to his doctor. The doctor then reads the reports and can advice appropriate medication which too can be supplied by a chemist through an online prescription. The Danish information system is certainly one of the most efficient in the world allowing the doctors to save a lot of administrative time. The Danish government is reported to have saved millions of dollars due to the usage of digital technology in healthcare.
Potential for patient care at home
There is a growing population now in the Indian metros which in spite of financial prosperity is at risk from isolation, depression, strokes and fractures caused by falls in the home due to an increase in the number of nuclear units due to children settling abroad or in other cities within India. This is an opportunity area for the healthcare service providers. Digital assistance in such cases will go a long way and what is more is that the technology is now easily available.
Digital patient care at home is being used globally for the geriatric patients, physically challenged and the patients with chronic conditions. This will become a critical tool in the care management models in India too. Home-based care management model will be the key to quality care, as it saves time of the doctors enabling them to see larger number of patients and also help in reducing costs.
ABI Research, a market intelligence company specialising in global technology markets, has projected that by 2016, wearable wireless medical device sales will reach more than 100 million devices annually. The market for wearable sports and fitness-related monitoring devices is projected to grow as well, reaching 80 million device sales by 2016.
Many segments of patients require regular data recording which can be done with the help of easy to use latest technology tools. These tools can record actionable, real-time care information while the patient is at home. This will lead to better monitoring, diagnosis and timely treatment by the doctors. The new technologies enable the tracking of medication intake and vital signs. The doctors can have access to real-time, round-the-clock care information via an easy-to-use, cloud-based platform. Web-based dashboards can be easily viewed, analysed, and acted upon by the care team in quick time frames. These digital systems can alert the doctor and family members of events such as a fall. Patients can get also reminders on medication and check ups.
Digital technology for home care in India
The digital infrastructure in India as well as the rest of the world has been building for a while. Smart phones, social networks and apps usage is growing simultaneously and becoming a need for many. We are already witnessing the beginning of a digital health management system in operation which can prove to be the best and most efficient way of getting out of our healthcare mess with smart and cost-effective solutions.
Home healthcare in India currently includes monitoring devices, therapeutic devices, interventional devices and home services. Interventional devices include drug delivery mechanisms, for example, are used by the diabetics. Home services currently include in-house nurse care and to a limited extent patient monitoring.
Companies like Philips and GE are in the market with sleep care and home respiratory care solutions. A variety of home healthcare services are being offered through a wide range of tests at the doorstep- X-rays, ultrasound and ECG besides an array of pathological tests. Apart from a few players like Philips Healthcare, Metropolis Health Services, Religare GE, Medinova, Dr Lal’s Pathlabs, the sector is largely unorganised.
Model for India
Hospitals in India are yet to offer the home healthcare facility in a significant manner but the trend is expected to grow in the near future. India needs a unique healthcare delivery mechanism to be able to deliver patient care at home. This would need a network of trained healthcare volunteers connected to the doctors in the clinics, nursing homes, small hospitals and tertiary care hospitals.
Rockland Hospitals has built a medical corridor with a chain of hospitals in the Delhi NCR and is in the process of launching a Health Network with plans for adding digital care at home. Rockland will focus on the special needs of those who suffer from disabilities of various kinds or due to old age. A difficult gynae case, an old or disabled person may need an emergency attention, or there could be a physically challenged person in the house who needs special attention through digital monitoring. A digital monitoring system and connectivity with tertiary care hospitals will help in an immediate response to the patients.
Modern day technology can connect the entire network for a seamless flow of communication and clinical data for better diagnosis and treatment. The penetration of mobile phones in the country can be easily leveraged for connecting the entire network through mobile apps. The challenge will be in ensuring quality certification and management of the response system which would need a major shift to a mind set. The healthcare service providers need to reach out to the patient instead of the other way around.
Hospitals as well as the patients will gain if the hospital stay is reduced by providing home care for post surgery patients and the medicine patients who can be treated at home. This will also increase the availability of beds for other needy patients. It is time for the healthcare industry to move out of the per bed management systems and shift to a per patient system where the home beds can be used to augment the availability of beds.
The potential of this market is bound to energise the old established players in healthcare and at the same time bring new players into the market to respond the needs of the patients. India will witness a big bang in the healthcare services innovation in the next couple of years. Healthcare entrepreneurs, in the near future, will bring disruptive innovation in the delivery of healthcare services due to increased pressure on bottom lines and a huge inflow of investments at the same time. Patient care at home is a big opportunity for the health entrepreneurs to leverage their investments in doctors, infrastructure and technology. India with a well developed IT capacity can do this too. Hospitals with fully equipped with state-of-the-art IT systems allowing the patients’ records to be seamlessly integrated into the system should not be a major challenge in the near future.
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