Health sector are now actively building upon their national foundations for e-Health to deliver public health and health services in a more strategic and integrated manner. e-Health can reduce health inequalities and help to modernize national health information systems and services. It has become a key asset for accessing health information and services, as well as improving how health information is gathered, managed and used. The prevalence of e-Health is growing in India and many programmers are maturing into established national services, indicating Member States’ commitment to e-Health Organisation. Keeping the inclusive advanced e-Healthcare solution industry in the mind, Indian Health Organisation (IHO), a premier, innovative company, delivers ‘vHealth by Aetna’, and an end-to-end primary care service towards their clients. Moreover, the Organisation has introduced benefits of telemedicine in the arena of e-Healthcare sector.
In an interview with Insights Success, Manasije Mishra, Managing Director of the Indian Health Organisation gave some insightful answers highlighting the influence of smart technologies which help industries to invent diverse ways of advance supports and solutions in the field of e-Healthcare.
1) Kindly brief us about your company and share what kind of e-Healthcare Solutions and services Indian Health Organisation provides?
Indian Health Organisation is one of India’s leading primary healthcare companies. It is a 100% subsidiary of Aetna, a Fortune 100 world leader in providing healthcare benefits. Focused on making quality healthcare accessible in India, IHO offers ‘vHealth by Aetna’, and an end-to-end primary care service. At its heart are IHO’s own doctors based in a state of the art telemedicine center. They are supported by 16,500 clinicians in its medical partner network which includes dentists, diagnostic centers, specialist doctors, medical centers, hospitals & pharmacies. With this ecosystem, IHO organizes blood tests and medicine delivery at patient’s residence and refer them to appropriate specialists for consultation in their vicinity at a discounted fee.
‘vHealth by Aetna’, in clinical partnership with a Swiss market leader, Medgate A.G, brings telemedicine trained doctors close to masses without compromising on quality. For any health problem, be it a chronic disease or ailment, vHealth’s in-house doctors can be reached through a toll-free number or through its newly launched mobile app for voice and video consultation.
- Doctors, on an average, spend 20 to 30 minutes on each consultation to understand the patients complete medical, surgical & social history.
- Use established clinical protocols for probing patients with relevant questions, ask them to perform physical maneuvers or send photographs to identify the root cause of the medical problems.
- Treat by sending a prescription, a detailed care plan and conduct regular follow-up to provide proper guidance and ensure that the treatment helps the patient.
- Arrange home diagnostic tests, medicine delivery, home care treatment and specialist appointments at reputed health centers with help from a network of 16,500 health partners.
IHO has almost a million active members.
2) Briefly tell us about the CEO/ of the company.
Manasije Mishra is the Managing Director of the Indian Health Organisation, since 2015. In this role, he is responsible for establishing IHO as the preferred primary care provider to millions. Since taking over the role, Mishra has successfully transformed Indian Health Organisation (IHO) from a startup to a rapidly growing, customer-centric Organisation.
Previously, Manasije was the Chief Executive Officer of Max Bupa. Under his leadership, Max Bupa witnessed exceptional growth, making it the fastest growing health insurer. Prior to this, he had a two-decade career with HSBC. He served as the Managing Director of HSBC Invest Direct and held senior positions in Strategy, Retail Banking, Operations, E-commerce, Trade Finance, Treasury and Financial Control.
Manasije is an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers, UK. He is an Economics graduate from Delhi University and an MBA from XLRI, Jamshedpur.
3) What are the challenges your company has faced on the road to success?
Our biggest challenge is to change behavior. Consumers tend to ignore symptoms initially and try to self-medicate. After the things get serious, they directly seek a specialist. Most of us do not regularly consult a family or primary care doctor. This behavior leads to higher costs and poor health outcomes. IHO is tackling this with the launch of vHealth by Aetna. Today 40% of our patients are repeat customers. Patients realise effective consultations can happen over the phone or video. The post-consultation rating of our doctors is at 4.5 out of 5.
4) What are the benefits gained by your clients while doing business with you?
Our team of doctors completed over 15,000 consults since its launch in May 2017 and we are delighted with the patient feedback. Our doctors at vHealth were able to provide the appropriate diagnosis and treatment for 70% of the patients without referring them for physical interventions.
Several patients have commented that we have been able to identify the root cause of their long-standing medical problems. Apart from managing acute and chronic patients, we have helped to diagnose cases of hemochromatosis (iron overload), gastric cancer, triple vessel disease, nephrology, Parkinson-plus and more.
Patients were also delighted that they were able to get the undivided attention of the doctor for over 30 minutes and with our hand-holding and follow-ups consultation.
5) What would be your words of advice for the upcoming entrepreneurs?
Behind any innovative solution is a consumer problem and a strong belief that this can be solved. Being a successful entrepreneur involves a series of missteps and mistakes, in seeking the right, commercially viable solution. Don’t hesitate to experiment and fail. Entrepreneurs, who disrupt the market, are driven by passion and self-belief. They will fail fast until they hit on the solution.
6) Brief us about some of the highly acclaimed and widely accepted innovations of Indian Health Organisation?
66% of the medical expenses are related to consultations, diagnostic tests, medicines and other non-hospitalization expenses. IHO launched Classic Consultation membership, designed to meet the day-to-day outpatient medical expenses. The membership is priced at Rs.5880 for one year for a family of four and helps people save upto 50% on their health expenses. Since its launch in Oct 2016, IHO has enrolled over 1.5lakh members for this consultation.
The annual benefits of Classic Consultation membership include access to vHealth by Aetna, where members get unlimited teleconsultation for their family members. Members can avail free specialist consultation at top hospitals. The package also offers 2 FREE comprehensive health check-ups, 2 FREE dental scaling and cleaning sittings and discounts on other day-to-day medical expenses like diagnostic tests and medicine delivery. This membership also helps its customers benefit from Tax exemption under section 80D.
7) Kindly share your views on the current industry trends?
The neglect of primary care in India is one of the reasons for the increasing disease burden and medical costs. E-healthcare has the potential to make quality healthcare accessible and improve the quality of primary health care.
In the next few decades, the idea of driving to a doctor’s clinic, waiting and physically meeting the doctor will be obsolete. Technology, including smartphones, remote sensors, connected devices, will provide access to digital primary care services. While technology can simplify access to the primary healthcare system, a critical component for success in India will be the delivery of quality care. Clinical expertise clubbed with digital technology is the game changer.
8) What can we expect from Indian Health Organisation in the future?
We see a great future for the digital healthcare ecosystem in India. During 2018 we expect many more families to accept vHealth by Aetna as their first port of call for any healthcare issue. By 2020, we aim to have 4 million members.
