USA Archives - InnoHEALTH magazine

India's first smartphone insertable cardiac monitor

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Fri, 04 May 2018 10:30:52 +0000

Abbott, one of India’s leading healthcare companies recently launched the latest Insertable Cardiac Monitor (ICM) across the country which is also the world’s first smartphone compatible ICM to aid physicians who can remotely monitor their patients for even the most difficult to detect cardiac arrhythmias including irregular heartbeats, atrial fibrillation etc.

It is designed to continuously monitor a patient’s heart rhythm and proactively transmit information via Bluetooth to Abbott’s dedicated mobile app for this, allowing physicians to follow their patients remotely and accurately diagnose arrhythmias that may require further treatment. This device provides a win-win situation for both the doctor and the patient.

For doctors the device allows for effective management of patients by diagnosing patients having infrequent but potentially fatal episodes of cardiac arrhythmias while enhancing patient compliance through smartphone connectivity. For patients it provides a new way to get monitored for abnormal heart rythms while staying connected to their doctors remotely and engaged in their healthcare.Once implanted just under the skin in the chest during a quick, minimally invasive outpatient procedure this ICM continuously monitors heart rhythms to detect a range of cardiac arrhythmias. It is also the slimmest ICM available today. It is the size of two paper clips, stacked on top of each other. While the ICM continu- ously monitors for abnormal heart rhythms and transmits data to a patient’s doctor, the app also allows patients to track symptoms proactively,sync their data with their clinic at any time, and view their transmission history without having to contact their clinic to confirm successful data transfers. Patients can also re- cord their symptoms such as fainting spells or heart palpitations in the app on their smart phones, to complement the information being monitored by the device.

The device has already received the CE Mark and USFDA approvals and is available in the EU, U.S.A and Australia The insertable cardiac monitor is extremely useful as it provides early diagnosis and timely treatment to events which could be catastrophic in nature if left unattended. This device for sure is taking cardiac monitoring to a whole new level.

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Digital India Healthy India

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Fri, 27 Apr 2018 06:34:46 +0000

New India, Digital India, Make India, Innovate India in making a ‘Healthy’ India

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India is a country of diversity with 1.3 billion population of which 70 per cent resides in villages and have access to 30 per cent of medical assets of the country. Poverty is a significant issue of the country, despite having one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, clocked at an economic growth of 7.6 per cent in 2015. It is estimated that 23.6 per cent of Indian population, or about 276 million people, live below $1.25 per day.

As Health is a state subject-there is lot of mismatch in states like Kerala and Punjab have best health indicators, while Uttar Pradesh is the poorest as per the NITI Aayog report. Indian government spends approx. 1.5 per cent of its GDP on health sector and mplans to make it 2.5 per cent which is much less than many developing countries while the USA has dedicated 16 per cent of its GDP. India is riddled with very basic public health issues leading to disease burden. Keeping this in mind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched six initiatives: Open Defecation free country by 2019, Swachh Bharat Mission, National Health Policy 2017, Digital India with e-health, medical device manufacturing and door-to-door screening of chronic diseases.

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The healthcare needs holistic approach which depends on multiple factors. The present government has taken many positive steps including launching of National Health Policy 2017 after the gap of 12 years. It has announced many initiatives like health insurance of people who cannot afford basic healthcare and upgrading of health infrastructure.

The regulation of medical devices have been brought out and is applicable w.e.f January 1, 2018 ending uncertainty of medical device manufacturers having global market of 220 billion US dollar. Challenges bring opportunities such as Indian healthcare market is around US$ 100 billion while it is expected to grow US$ 280 billion by 2020. The healthcare IT market is US$ one billion and is expected to grow 1.5 times by 2020. There is requirement of 7 lakh hospital beds which need investment opportunities of 25-30 billion US dollar. We need to bring innovations in hospital planning,devices, diagnostics, drugs and use of technology to reduce healthcare delivery cost and yet quality.

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We failed targets of Health for All by 2000, National Rural Health Mission, and Millennium Development Goals and now launched Universal Health Coverage; its success would depend on providing healthcare facilities and strict accountability. We need to focus on primary health care and customise our healthcare delivery system by learning from experiences of other countries.

The concept of Diagnosis Related Group (DRG) making financial package for group of diseases which is known to patients, providers and third party payors should be considered by improving deficiency found in its execution by the USA.

The various schemes of present government are appreciable but success would depend on strict monitoring, corporate hospitals have high cost and many unethical practices are reported every day in media. Public hospitals to National Rural Health Mission have not delivered as required because of corruption, lack of resources and application of management practices. The need is not old wine in new bottle but strict control in implementation of various schemes launched.

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Read all the issues of InnoHEALTH magazine:
InnoHEALTH Volume 1 Issue 1 (July to September 2016) – https://goo.gl/iWAwN2
InnoHEALTH Volume 1 Issue 2 (October to December 2016) – https://goo.gl/4GGMJz
InnoHEALTH Volume 2 Issue 1 (January to March 2017) – https://goo.gl/DEyKnw
InnoHEALTH Volume 2 Issue 2 (April to June 2017) – https://goo.gl/Nv3eev
InnoHEALTH Volume 2 Issue 3 (July to September 2017) – https://goo.gl/MCVjd6
InnoHEALTH Volume 2 Issue 4 (October to December 2017) – http://amzn.to/2B2UMLw
InnoHEALTH Volume 3 Issue 1 (January to March 2018) – https://goo.gl/fksdQx
InnoHEALTH Volume 3 Issue 2 (April to June 2018) – https://goo.gl/grbtRo

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Regular consumption of fruits cuts death risk

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Thu, 26 Apr 2018 05:24:48 +0000

People who consume around 375 to 500 grams of fruits, vegetables and dal per day are at a reduced risk of death by nearly 23 per cent, a new study published in The Lancethas found.

While World Health Organization (WHO) recommends 800 grams or 5-9 servings of fruit or vegetables per day, the new study has shown that it takes just half – that is, 375 grams to get the desired health benefits. This is important for people living in countries who cannot afford a lot of fruits and vegetables.

Potatoes and other tubers were not included and fruit juices were not considered as fruits while calculating the intake. Legumes included beans, black beans, lentils, peas, chickpeas, and black-eyed peas.

The researchers attribute beneficial effects of consuming fruits and vegetables to presence of antioxidants like vitamin C, vitamin E and carotenoids, and fiber in them, which reduces bad cholesterol, improves insulin response, lowers the blood pressure, prevents fat deposition in blood vessels, and improves cellular function in the body.

“Although there is a popular belief that fruits, and vegetables are healthy, there was no long-term study data to support this and hence our findings are new and significant,” said Dr.V Mohan of the Dr. Mohan’s Diabetes Specialties Centre in Chennai, who contributed to the study.

The decade-long research was done in 18 countries with 135,335 participants aged 35 to 70 years. Healthy individuals with no reported diseases and complications were enrolled for the study. They were given questionnaires to record daily diet, lifestyle habits like smoking, physical activity and alcohol intake, and their socioeconomic status like education, income, and employment.

At the end of the study, researchers recorded the number of deaths, cases of cardiovascular diseases, heart attack, and stroke. Then the data was analyzed to see if consuming higher amounts of fruits, vegetables, and dal is related to the number of deaths and adverse outcomes on health. “We found that regular consumption of vegetables, fruits and legumes protectedpeople from cardiovascular disease and death”, states Dr. Mohan.

“This study does not distinguish between cooked vegetables and raw ones, although it is common knowledge that cooking destroys some of the vitamins and minerals, hence as far as possible we should use raw vegetables like tomato, cucumber, carrot and green leafy vegetables which can be consumed raw”, pointed out Dr. Mohan.

According to Estefania Toledo, professor at the Department of Nutrition of the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, USA, who is not connected to the study,“Increased consumption of fruits and vegetables should beat the expense of reducing other foods and drinks, such as sugar sweetened beverages, red and processed meat, saturated and trans fat, refined cereals, and sugar rich desserts”. She added that consuming more plant-based foods helps replace detrimental foods, which benefits the overall dietary pattern.

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Exercise in big parks can reduce depression

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Wed, 11 Apr 2018 08:51:44 +0000

Those who exercise in large parks in cities are less prone to depression

Availability of large neighbourhood parks encourages people to increase their physical activity, and those suffering from chronic conditions who regularly exercise in these parks are less prone to major depression, a new study has found. Besides increasing physical activity, regular exposure to outdoor green spaces improves cognitive functioning and lowers mortality risks. This is significant for those with chronic conditions like arthritis, diabetes, asthma and heart diseases as they are the most vulnerable to depression.

The study was done in Delhi, which has several public parks in residential areas. “Large parks in Delhi have diverse landscapes and are more likely to receive regular and frequent visitors, providing an opportunity for regular socialization,” say researchers.

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People who used large-sized neighbourhood parks walked for more than 150 minutes per week, the study found. For overall health, fitness and cognitive maintenance, the World Health Organization recommends adults to engage in 150 minutes of physical activity per week.

Dr. Debarati Mukherjee, lead author of the study says,” High levels of exercise encourage birth of new neurons which aid memory functions and learning.”

Researchers measured the association between park availability and major depression in 1208 adult park-users in Delhi. Major depression was measured using a structured clinical interview. Compared to residents exposed to large parks, major depression was 3.1 times higher among those exposed to small parks. They also showed that large-sized parks reduced stress and increased satisfaction with the immediate living environment.

“There are several mechanisms by which mental health is enhanced by physical activity. This is largely by increasing levels of endorphins in the brain” said Dr Dorairaj Prabhakaran of Public Health Foundation of India and one of the researchers. Endorphins are a group of chemicals that are natural mood elevators.

Dr. Mukherjee says that high levels of exercise encourage birth of new neurons which aid memory functions and learning. Physical activity is also thought to reverse cell and tissue damage as seen in Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.

Researchers point out that negative impact of shrinking green spaces due to rapid socio-economic development in metropolitan cities has not been studied, stressing the need for more studies on the matter. In addition to health benefits, urban green spaces reduce air and noise pollution. They also function as an important habitat islands for urban wildlife.

Certain neighborhoods may enable behaviours that promote mental health, while other residents may find it more restrictive to follow a healthy and happy lifestyle.

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Dr. Mukherjee says, “Our study provides the first empirical evidence of the benefits of availability of parks in the Indian context. It highlights the importance of having large parks near people’s living quarters”. The study could be a model for similar studies in other cities across the country.

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The scientists also recommend inclusion of urban green spaces in city planning to increase overall health of people. Their findings come at an important time whena largescale development in major cities is being undertaken in the country. “This is an opportune moment given that development of sustainable cities is ongoing in 109 cities selected in the SMART Cities Mission. Allocating municipal land for large urban parks should have a high priority,” adds Dr. Prabhakaran.

Altogether, 11 scientists from India, America and United Kingdom contributed to this study. Participating institutions include Centre for Control of Chronic Conditions, Public Health Foundation of India, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Rollins School of Public Health USA, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine UK. The findings were recently published in journal Health and Place.

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Philips lighting research on eyesight

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Mon, 09 Apr 2018 07:06:58 +0000

Philips Lighting (Euronext Amsterdam ticker: LIGHT), the world leader lighting, has released findings that reveal that almost two third of Indians agree that poor light quality is detrimental to eyesight but just one fifth (21%) will actually take corrective measures such as buying light bulbs that are comfortable for their eyes. The survey also highlighted that for most Indians, eyecare is not treated at par with skincare and other health issues such as managing one’s weight and fitness levels.

First 3-D Printed Human Corneas

In Mumbai, durability of the bulb emerged as the highest priority while making purchase decision for light bulbs, with almost 47% of adults choosing it over other factors like price and eye comfort. While 49% of adults in the city agree that light quality affects eyesight, only 21% will opt for lighting that is comfortable for their eyes. The study conducted amongst 9,000 adults across twelve countries including India, also revealed uncomfortably entrenched mindsets with about half of the Indian population compromising on their eyesight by prioritising price (50%) and durability (48%) of bulbs over eye comfort, while making purchase decisions for light bulbs.

The situation is quite alarming considering the invasion of digital technology in our lives translating into longer screen exposure times, with almost 70% of Indians surveyed spending more than 6 hours a day in front of a screen and a similar number complaining of eyestrain! This also comes at a time as myopia hits record levels globally, with the World Health Organization predicting that one in two people will be short sighted by 2050, a vision emergency of sorts, in the not too distant future!

Ophthalmologists understand the gravity of the situation and are pulling out all stops to sensitise the general population to step up on their eye care quotient. They highlight a continued need to educate the public about eye care. In response to this situation the All India Ophthalmological Society has developed a number of proactive community oriented programs, guidelines and resources to enhance ophthalmic education amongst the public. The study of over 9,000 adults across twelve countries – India, China, USA, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Indonesia, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Thailand and Turkey – becomes even more relevant given the dire situation. It was commissioned to explore how quality LED lighting can help ameliorate the eye comfort problem amongst consumers. As per the findings of the study, 44% of Indians don’t visit an eye specialist on a regular basis while about three fourths on an average use weight (73%) and fitness (60%) as overall indicators of health. Clearly, eye care does not rank at par with other perceived health metrics. Quality lighting is not only related to longevity, but is also incredibly important when it comes to ensuring our eyes aren’t strained and feel comfortable. people should choose high quality lamps that are comfortable for their eyes.

PHILIPS LIGHTING RESEARCH

• While 49% adults in Mumbai agree that light quality affects their eye sight, only one in five (21%) will opt for lighting that is comfortable for their eyes

• Almost half of adults in Mumbai consider durability (47%) and price (45%) of bulbs over comfort for their eyes, while making purchase decisions

• More than half (53%) of adults in the city don’t regularly get their eyes checked; eye care does not rank at par with other perceived health metrics such as managing weight, fitness levels and skin care

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Alcohol addiction: Counselling can be of great help

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Wed, 28 Mar 2018 10:31:46 +0000

Alcohol abuse contributes to illness and premature deaths in a big way. It is also associated with several socio-economic consequences such loss of earnings and domestic violence.

Over the years, several measures have been launched to overcome the problem including imposition of ban on alcohol sale and setting up of de-addiction centres to help the drinkers.

A group of researchers drawn from several national and international institutions have now found that it is possible to address the issue in a significantly effective manner at low costs. They have found that lot of benefit can be derived by merely equipping public health workers with different counselling techniques.

The study was conducted at 10 public primary healthcare centres in Goa. A total of 377 heavy drinkers in the age group of 18 to 65 years were enrolled. They were randomized into two groups- one receiving just the routine care and the other who also received counselling for two months. Their alcohol use was measured after 12 months.

In the group that received counseling, as much as 68 per cent of the men were found to have reduced their consumption to the safe level, as against 40 per cent in the case of the group that received only the routine care. The counselling programme was also not too intense. It consisted of just one to three sessions.

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The counselors were also just non-specialist health workers. They had no prior professional training or qualification in the field of mental health. However, they were given rigorous training on various aspects of counselling and they gave advice on how to deal with craving and motivated patients to quit drinking.

Speaking to India Science Wire, Vikram Patel, professor at the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine of the Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts in USA, who was the corresponding author for the study, said, “Given the great social and health harms associated with heavy drinking in India, and the effectiveness of this relatively brief and cheap treatment to reduce drinking levels,the government needs to scale up this treatment by training primary care health workers across the country”.

Besides Dr. Patel, the study team included Abhijit Nadkarni, Helen A Weiss, Benedict Weobong, David McDaid, Daisy R Singla, A-La Park, Bhargav Bhat, Basavaraj Katti, Jim McCambridge, Pratima Murthy, Michael King, G Terence Wilson, Betty Kirkwood, Christopher G Fairburn, and Richard Velleman.

National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) in Bengaluru and Sangath, a NGO in Goa participated in the study. They collaborated with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of Oxford, University of Bath, University of York, University College London and London School of Economics and Political Science in United Kingdom, University of Toronto in Canada, Rutgers University in New Jersey, and Harvard Medical School in United States of America. The Indian Council of Medical Research gave the ethical approval for conducting the trial.

(Article shared from India Science Wire)

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Smartcity development are heat islands

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Fri, 23 Mar 2018 06:02:34 +0000

The phenomenon of urban heat islands, in which concrete and built areas experience higher temperatures than surrounding rural areas, may get accentuated with rapid urbanization. This is the conclusion of a new study of urban areas selected for development of smart cities. The study, which covered 89 of 100 areas selected for development of smart cities, has found that agriculture and irrigation are two dominant drivers of urban heat islands or UHI in India. In addition, significant presence of atmospheric aerosols – mainly pollutants – over urban areas can influence UHI.

Moisture from irrigation canals and agriculture fields play a key role in keeping rural areas surrounding cities much cooler that urban areas, resulting cities becoming heat islands. In a heat island, temperature could be 1 to 6 degrees higher than surrounding areas. Remote sensing data and climate modelling were used to evaluate UHI across the country.

When the surrounding of non-urban areas have no agriculture during summer, cities are relatively cooler during daytime. However, if the non-urban areas are under irrigated agriculture, cities are warmer than surroundings. This means UHI effect during day time is mainly driven by agriculture and irrigation. However, in the night-time, cities are significantly warmer than surroundings in both winter and summer seasons. Night time urban heat is mainly driven by the amount of heat stored in buildings and other impervious surfaces.

Urban areas located in highly irrigated regions – Indo-Gangetic Plain and north-west India (Haryana and Punjab) – show UHI intensity of 3 to 5 degrees. During summer season (April and May), when air temperature is at the peak, land surface temperature becomes is higher than that of the post monsoon season in absence of agricultural operations. Moreover, amount of moisture and vegetation in non-urban areas are also limited as crops are largely harvested by the end of March and soil moisture is depleted due to high atmospheric water demands, the study said.

“While urban areas have experienced increased number of heat waves and temperature extremes in recent past, urban heat island effect driven by rapid urbanization can further worsen extreme hot conditions in cities,” pointed out Dr Vimal Mishra, a scientist at the Water and Climate Lab of Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar, which did the study. The results of the study appeared in journal Scientific Reports on Wednesday.

The development of smart cities will result in rapid growth in urban infrastructure and population, leading to increases in UHI intensity. “Our results can provide policy insights for development of smart cities,” Dr Mishra said. “Considering night-time heating which could be significant during heat waves, measures such as passive cooling should be used. Building materials that absorb less heat and are sustainable can reduce the amount of heating caused by stored heat.” The presence of water bodies and vegetation in cities can also help reduce additional nighttime heating in urban heat islands.

The study team included Rahul Kumar and Vimmal Mishra (IIT Gandhinagar); Jonathan Buzan and Matthew Huber (Purdue University, USA); Rohini Kumar (UFZ-Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig, Germany); and Drew Shindel (Duke University, USA).

(Article shared from India Science Wire)

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Real time patient monitoring system

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Thu, 08 Feb 2018 08:24:33 +0000

Real time patient monitoring system at a destination healthcare facility

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Dr. Chandy Abraham has extensive experience of working in both clinical as well as academic settings in India and the United Kingdom and is currently Chief Executive Officer, Medical Director. Dr. Chandy is a “lead surveyor” for the “National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare organisations,” the Indian accreditation agency which works for ensuring quality in the healthcare sector.

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Dr. Vinit Raj, Quality Officer, A Certified Healthcare Quality Professional with a Masters in Hospital Administration and over 9 years of experience in healthcare quality. He has successfully completed 8 Joint Commission International surveys for the hospitals in India, Middle East and North America. He has completed a Certificate Program on Patient Safety and Quality from National Association for Health Care Quality & Harvard Medical School USA.

The era of technology and digitization has been a catalyst for all the improvements in the healthcare industry. It has bridged the communication gap between healthcare providers and patients and it has been the driving force for better and more accessible treatment, improved patient care and efficiency.

Patient satisfaction is of paramount importance. And this article speaks about our journey of improving the patient feedback system and response rates in order to address the needs of the patient in real time.

Digital survey tools are nothing special in the business world, but they are the new tool in the healthcare system still burdened with paper. Traditional paper-based surveys— usually used by a subset of patients often yield feedback from less than 10 percent of the patient population, can be subject to transcriber error and typically do not provide timely or statistically reliable data.

Background:

Patient experience has become an increasingly important component in the assessment of healthcare systems worldwide. The measurement of patient experience is important because it provides an opportunity to establish benchmarks and to monitor the performance of health care organizations, to improve care, to enhance strategic decision making, to pay attention to patients’ expectations and to make healthcare organizations more transparent and accountable to their local populations.

With the evolution of digital applications, such as app-based surveys and touchscreen kiosks we choose to move away from the paper based surveys to a digital methodology to measure patient experiences real time and act on it quickly.

Paper Patient Survey forms

Six months ago,we were worried as we were not getting the desired response rates of patient surveys and we were spending lot of time in analyzing the results and the time consuming step of segmenting and sending the results to the concerned department. It was difficult and time consuming to keep a track of the complaints and also patients were not very keen to fill a paper feedback form. Of course, one of major drawbacks in a fledgling but growing organization is that the data was retrospective and helped with system changes but did nothing for the patients while a commitment to excellence in the hospital, our top management and the board decided to digitize this process as a way to manage the patient complaints efficiently.

From the end of last year, Health City Cayman Islands started managing the Patient satisfaction surveys and feedback digitally with the help of an App to capture real time patient experience and to act on patient concerns quickly.

Touchscreen kiosks were placed in strategic locations of the hospital with a message for the patients to use problem occurred.

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Time consuming to analyze the results

Being a new organization and also working on the principles of lean management, our customer care manager does multitasking and collecting the surveys every week, analyzing it and sending it to respective departments did consume a good chunk of time.

Moving to Digital Patient satisfaction Surveys

As patient satisfaction is one of the key components of our all-round the feedback system and also surveys were given to Inpatients at the time of discharge using tablet computers.

Emailing Survey links to the patients:

To capture the unbiased feedback we also started sending the survey link to all the patients via emails and the links were directly merged with the kiosk survey responses.

This system help edour team to analyze patient feedback instantly and accurately, eliminating the use of paper and long wait times for results to be analyzed. Furthermore, it has encouraged more participation from patients.

Real time feedback

The digital system has helped us to see the responses in real time on the dashboards of the heads of departments which helps them act on the concerns in quick time.

Better Patient experience

Majority of the patients are tech savvy these days and they feel comfortable to use the kiosk compared to the paper forms.

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Quick action on complaints

All heads of the departments have access to the feedback dashboards on their computers and they can see the complaints real time which has helped with action on complaints quickly.

The assigned tasks and the status of the action taken is also available on the dashboards.

The Quality manager assigns the task to the concerned departments for all low rating feedback.

Studies in several countries suggest that healthcare managers and clinicians often struggle to link patient experience data to local improvement initiatives. Robert et al. found that appointing a champion or leader on patient experience resulted in a significant improvement in the quality of patient experience research and in the ability of organizations to act on the results.

Track the progress

The dashboard has a section to see all the assigned tasks and the status of the task. The concerned department has to complete the task by taking corrective actions like speaking to the patients and taking necessary actions.

Email alerts for low ratings

We get emails for all the low rating feedback and also daily, weekly and monthly summary of the responses.

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Reduced time in analyzing the results

The system automatically analyze the results and it takes two less than minutes to get the detailed summary of the results.

Net Promotors Scores

The system automatically calculates the net promotors scores which is consider more relevant in assessing the patient’s satisfaction level.

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Conclusion:

Many hospitals have adopted digitized patient feedback systems and continually gauging patient satisfaction and using the digital feedback system to build on quality improvement initiatives will help demonstrate a commitment to patient-centred care and improve the overall healthcare experience.

Digital survey data can be captured automatically and downloaded quickly without transcription error thereby saving time, reducing costs, and maximizing data accuracy.

For those patients who are not tech savvy, the staff can help the patient by using the paper survey forms and feed the data into the digital system.

As with paper surveys, digital surveys need to be designed well to be usable in practice and acting on the feedback and communicating the actions to patients is best service recovery method which every hospitals should strive for.

Currently, we are working towards increasing the response rate by creating awareness campaigns with posters informing patients of surveys and by increasing the frequency of emails with the survey links to the patients.

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Reference:
NLCAHR July 2016 | Rapid Evidence
Report: The Effectiveness of Digital Surveys for Patient Feedback

Robert G, Cornell, J. Bearley, S.et al. “What matters to patients?” Developing the evidence base for measuring and improving patient experience. Project Report for the Department of Health and the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement. 2011.

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Startup coordinates and e-health destination

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Tue, 30 Jan 2018 05:53:58 +0000

The startup coordinates and e-health destination

By Sachin Gaur, Director operations IC

Last year May 24-26, 2017 was big startup event Latitude 59 in Tallinn,Estonia. I attended the event and got a flavor of the startup scene and healthcare sector discussions were held. I aligned my visit to Estonia along with the visit of my meeting with CBHEALTHACCESS delegates, innovative healthcare companies from Finland, Sweden, Estonia and Latvia.

I could witness many startups and meet some friends. At any point in the premises of the conference there were over 1000 people and all engaged about future trends and opportunities. One way to know future is always by observing what problems best startups are engaged in solving. I could witness many biotech (genetics) based startup trying their hands on personalized medicine and new age diagnostics platform. Also, interesting was the cyber security companies.

One cyber security startup from Switzerland, OneVisage, that attracted my attention was working on 3D face scanning as authentication mechanism and looked promising for applications like online banking with your own face as your password. Estonia in general has made great advances in two areas, one that of e-governance including e-health and the other cyber security. Hence, it was no surprise for me to see both kind of startups flocking in conference and building upon the existing good work happening in that country. The other exciting thing to see was the countries collaborating and there were many international visitors including from India. Japanese and Finnish presence was quite visible.

There was also heavy promotion of e-residency program with some exciting announcements about easier account opening with a Finnish provider. It lured me also to try my hands on registering a company and post conference it took me only few minutes with the help of some local friends to register a company! Although, I am yet to make it fully functional, but that was already something for me.

The highlight for me was the healthcare session on the second day, which had a keynote by Nicky Hekster from IBM Watson. Nicky started by asking everyone in the room to standup and asked first those who have been to a hospital in last six months to sit down or someone in their close family. Next, he asked if they knew someone in friends/relatives who have been to the hospital. To my surprise there were only 2-3 people standing in the room which had over hundreds of people. This was a master tactic to drive the point home, that healthcare matters to all.

Followed by the keynote was a panel discussion, which comprised of panelists from USA, Finland, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Estonia. They were healthcare practitioners, investors, incubators, startups and large company representatives. The session was interesting and demonstrated that how international best practices sharing and collaboration is need of the hour cutting across all type of stakeholders. I really enjoyed my two days not just in the conference but also in after parties with loads of intellectual discussions. Look forward being there again next year!

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Healthcare Innovations in India

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Fri, 03 Nov 2017 11:15:18 +0000

Nidhi Saxena is seasoned healthcare entrepreneur. She has 16 years of healthcare, life sciences & technology expertise. Currently driving Zoctr.com, India’s first healthcare aggregator patient engagement platform and mobile application that leverages a unique, disruptive and fully integrated business model to offer home, tele-health & remote monitoring services to patients on a Pan-India basis thereby improving overall quality and accessibility of care, improved patient compliance and medical outcomes and dramatically reduced healthcare costs.

Zoctr Health Network is a first-of-its kind pan-India Home & Telehealth Company that provides a comprehensive portfolio of home based medical services including long term Intensive Care, Chronic Care & Wellness, Corporate Wellness and Health Check-up programs and other subscription based value added services such as Teleconsulting, Home Laboratory Pick-ups, Home/Online Pharmacy and Emergency Management Support to its customers leveraging a proprietary, fully integrated and technology led business model. It also integrates several health services like doctor appointments, home health services, remote monitoring services, laboratory, pharmacy, medical equipment, telehealth, and ambulatory support. Zoctr raised a funding of $1 million from certain angel investors to improve and expand its presence in Pune, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Ahmedabad and Kolkata.

Dr Srivats Bharadwaj is the founder, chairman & CEO at Vatsalya Dental, Bangalore, India. After completing his studies he has traveled far and wide across the world lecturing, teaching and for research activities. His innovative approach to dentistry applies two guiding principles derived from his international exposure and life experiences.

Statistics reveal that there is one dentist for every 10,000 people in urban areas in India. In rural areas, however, there is one dentist for 150,000 people. This is an indication of the challenge that exists in India when it comes to oral health. In an endeavour to contain this challenge “Vatsalya” was launched.

Vatsalya is a dental care firm for oral healthcare which provides end to end dental treatment at your doorstep. Recently the firm launched its 24/7 emergency home dental care services where it charges only the transportation cost as extra. The team had recently acquired a funding of Rs 11 crore from S-Squared Captial Investments, USA. The home healthcare company focuses on special needs dentistry and preventive dentistry. The team at Vatsalya also provides services like surgical removal of teeth, laser surgeries, complete or partial denture prosthesis, root canal therapy and fixed and bridge crown prosthesis.

A brainchild of IIT alumni Vipin, Abhishek and Garima, Care24 offers professional care from trained caregivers that help the patient recuperate at home. Care24 has been in operation since 2014 and has successfully helped 40000+ families heal at home in Mumbai and Delhi.

The Mumbai-based home healthcare platform offers verified caregiver services across Mumbai. The startup raised a series A funding of $4 million led by SAIF Partners and seed investor India Quotient. As of February this year, the startup had clocked 600 transactions in a day. They have a network 24×7 nurses, attendants, and certified physiotherapists, who help individuals through the rehabilitation process.

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Read all the issues of InnoHEALTH magazine:
InnoHEALTH Volume 1 Issue 1 (July to September 2016) – https://goo.gl/iWAwN2
InnoHEALTH Volume 1 Issue 2 (October to December 2016) – https://goo.gl/4GGMJz
InnoHEALTH Volume 2 Issue 1 (January to March 2017) – https://goo.gl/DEyKnw
InnoHEALTH Volume 2 Issue 2 (April to June 2017) – https://goo.gl/Nv3eev
InnoHEALTH Volume 2 Issue 3 (July to September 2017) – https://goo.gl/MCVjd6

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