Future-ready healthcare ecosystem: Ensuring accessibility and affordability through collaborative efforts

Despite the initial onslaught, the pandemic has educated us on the importance of building a healthcare ecosystem that is future ready. The unprecedented nature of the pandemic forced all the healthcare players to come together and join hands to overcome this to save as many lives as possible.

India, as an evolving nation, is committed to achieving Universal Health Coverage  (UHC) by 2030, which means easy access to quality healthcare services at affordable costs.  An overall strategy for a balanced combination of preventive and curative services to make healthcare more affordable and accessible for the people of India is the need of the hour.  A meaningful partnership between the different healthcare organizations in the entire gamut of the healthcare ecosystem including hospitals, diagnostics, Med-Tech companies, etc. can make India’s health system step up service deliveries significantly.

Healthcare providers adopted technological advancements to fulfill the urgent needs of their patients. Tele-medicine, teleconsultation, Electronic Intensive Care Unit (e-ICU), and remote monitoring have become the new norm for doctors and patients. This has enabled us towards redesigning our health ecosystem in providing quality healthcare services to all.

The concept of clinical corridors holds the utmost importance to minimize travel for patients.  With an emphasis on affordability and accessibility, we should offer comprehensive solutions to patients.  Clinical excellence and global expertise between hospitals should be in collaborative partnerships to minimize the challenges medical conditions pose on patients, like travel, accommodation, food costs, etc. This would not only strengthen the reach of quality healthcare across smaller cities but also create a healthcare ecosystem where optimized healthcare solutions become increasingly affordable and accessible to remote areas.

Accountability toward patients forms a core component in service deliveries for them to take informed decisions based on trust, transparency, and clarity. With the right implementation of the 4 A’s – Accessibility, Affordability, Awareness, and Accountability, India will soon emerge as one of the topmost preferred destinations for medical tourism. It is imperative, therefore, to focus on refining the Indian healthcare infrastructure to meet global standards of care. India emerging as a competent player in healthcare will result in a higher potential to earn foreign exchange and lead to increased employment opportunities for skilled labor.  – Increased budgetary impetus at primary, secondary, and tertiary levels will support enhanced service deliveries in healthcare.

Patients should be at the center of the care continuum. Therefore, striving for improved clinical outcomes at a minimal cost should be the goal for every healthcare provider. Empowering the patients with the right knowledge is a crucial part of the patient-first approach. Building awareness about the disease, preventive methods, and every aspect of care is one of the core responsibilities of healthcare service providers. Care providers need to ensure that they keep transparency at the core of their offering, hence, accountability is crucial.

In the post-pandemic world, we should aim to develop a value-based healthcare ecosystem by moving away from the number-driven system. Choosing people before profit, care before commerce, building awareness, and being accountable are some of the greatest pillars based on which the paradigm shift from a number-driven ecosystem to a value-based ecosystem can become a reality.

The author is the Founding Member, MD, and CEO of Marengo Asia Healthcare. Views are personal.

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