Saturday, 11 May 2013
Affordabe Healthcare - new kid on the block!: Affordable Healthcare - new kid on the block!
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Affordable Healthcare - new kid on the block!
The new kid on the block in the healthcare sector is the concept of "affordable healthcare".
Positioned as somewhere in between the abysmally bad but free government sector healthcare and the exorbitantly expensive private sector hospitals, affordable healthcare hopes to provide for the millions of our countrymen healthcare that they deserve at costs that they can afford.
To go a little deeper into the problem, let us examine the first aspect - government run hospitals. Though managing and treating a large number of patients practically free of cost, government run hospitals are typically seen as dirty, unhygienic, unsympathetic (the 'babu' culture is alive and active), with long waiting queues (operation waiting list at AIIMS can run into years). Prone to frequent disruptions on account of threatened strike/s by any member of the work force - doctors, nurses, safai karamcharis, the immense discomfort to the dependent population is never taken into consideration. There is no denying that many patients have died unnecessarily during moments of these sudden strikes.
Even in this culture of 'free healthcare' there are first among equals- those who come with recommendation from various ministries, local politicians and councillors, the SHO and the beat constable, or brought in as
'relative of staff', are top of the line, and the common man has to continue to wait interminably for his turn. There is a way though - for the payment of a little commission or fee - one could get an early date for surgery. Not only is this process tedious and cumbersome, there is no assuarance that monetary considerations are not at work in the final decision that is taken for a procedure or surgery - unnecessary angioplasty, joint replacement etc, because of the huge financial incentive offerred by the implant/ device companies to the doctor/ surgeon.So, Government healthcare, though thought of as free and fair, is neither of that.
The private hospitals, on the other hand, are in it for the money. You would be well advised, for the sake of your health and wallet, to remember that. Everything is 'conversion rate' - conversion rate from the emergency department towards admission, from Out Patient Department (OPD) towards surgery/admission and from everyone towards diagnostics - lab tests and radiology - MRIs and CT scans etc. There is a well established complicity between the management and the medical staff - we will pay you fat salaries, make sure the beds remain full, and OTs continue to buzz with activity throughout the day.
The commssion culture is well established - fom the family physician to the autorickshaw driver who rushes you there in an emergency, every one is on the take. You should not be surprised to know that even your HR Head or the admin person may have a little stake in every patient that goes from your office to the nearby hospital.
Given this culture of kickbacks and commissions - justified by the management term- 'industry norms', it is no surprise that healthcare costs in these so called 'corporate hospitals' is so high. The machine is geared like that - anyone who enters the portals will be churned out systematically and mercilessly, and there are no exceptions.
Enter the new kid on the block- ' Affordable Healthcare'. Offered not as a panacea, but as a credible and strong alternative in many instances to the previous two, affordable healthcare is an initiative in the private sector that attempts to offer good medical care at reasonable cost.
Centres offering this segment of healthcare would typically be mid rung hospitals/ nursing homes/ day care surgical centres which hope to touch the immensely large middle class segment of society. The modus operandi would be to set up well equipped centres in the neighbourhood, establish a good relationship with the community they serve, and offer good healthcare at a fraction of the cost as compared to corporate hospitals. This would be done by keeping their capital as well as running costs low. One of the reasons for huge markups in corporate hospitals is ' marketing cost' .This adds, in some manner or the other, up to nearly 30% of cost escalation in your final bill. If the affordable healthcare segment can keep its marketing costs low, and let the low cost of the care be the marketing mantra, it can begin to survive on its own.
One shouldn't be surprised, if, going by what is happening in the hospitality sector, the large groups start entering this space as well- like the taj offering luxury/ vivanta/ ginger/ lemon group of hotels, the day may not be too far when the big boys of private healthcare in the country enter this space as well!
All the better for us!
drbhardwaj
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