2. White Paper on Indian Electronic Health Record Industry
Strong Growth in Healthcare IT Industry
Indian healthcare industry is
experiencing gradual transition from
paper files to electronic mediums.
Digitalization in health records is
gaining pace. Though the concept is
well placed in developed economies
such as UK, US, in India it all started
somewhere around 2008 when a
handful of technology savvy
entrepreneurs invested in patient
portals/EMR software to enhance
connectivity and communication
between patients and doctors.
The new concept is welcomed by
youngsters and internet users, who can
now fix appointments with preferred
physicians, take online consultations,
second opinions about illness, read
doctor reviews before fixing
appointments and in some cases
maintain electronic health records of
their family. Strong growth in the
healthcare IT infrastructure gives
wings to EHR segment.
India ranks among the top five
healthcare markets within Asia and is
one of the fastest growing hospital
information technology (HIT) markets
in the region. The Indian healthcare IT
market has been growing tremendously
over the past few years.
In 2012, the healthcare IT market was
valued at US$ 480 Million with an
increase of 21.5% as compared to the
previous year. The market is expected
to grow at a CAGR of around 22.7%
during the period 2013-2015.
The country's healthcare system is
developing rapidly and it continues to
expand its coverage, services and
spending in both the public as well as
private sectors. This is creating a large
market for hospital information
systems and other healthcare-related
IT solutions.
Healthcare IT Market Drivers
Private hospital chains -
major consumers and
investors in Healthcare IT
Increasing adoption of new
technology systems such as
EHR/EMR, e-health, m-health
and telemedicine
Government initiatives to
streamline and fasten
healthcare system in public
hospitals
Rising Healthcare Expenditure
on Technology
India - Healthcare IT Market (Million
US$)
Source: RNCOS
3. White Paper on Indian Electronic Health Record Industry
Indian Government Initiatives for EHR/EMR
Indian government is investigating the construction of healthcare
information systems that store Electronic Health Records (EHRs) for
citizens. In 2010, the DIGHT (Distributed Information store for Global
Healthcare Technology) project was established to address the
challenges of building a scalable and highly reliable information store
for EHRs for the citizens of India.
For this, government outlined an incremental approach to adopting
standards, implementation specifications, and criteria to enhance the
interoperability, functionality, utility, and security of health
information technology and to support its widespread adoption.
In the committee constituted by an order of Ministry of Health &
Family Welfare, Government of India, various recommendations
regarding EMR standards were presented. We have tabulated some of
the recommendations.
India - Key Recommended Healthcare
IT Standards
Name Class
UHID Unique Health Identifier - to act as Patient
Identifier
XML (Extensible Markup Language) For data capture, integration and presentation
layer
CCD (HL7/ASTM) Clinical Data for Inter Department documents
(the CDA CCD)
Source: Ministry of Health & Family Welfare,
Government of India, FICCI
4. White Paper on Indian Electronic Health Record Industry
Players Tap Evolving Needs of Consumers
Market Pushers and Pullers
Pushers Pullers
Growing Internet Savvy Population
Rise in Migrant Resident in Metros
Additional Revenue Source for
Doctors
Quest to Streamline and Integrate
Healthcare in Hospitals
Inadequate Market
Education
High Subscription Charges for
Doctors and Hospitals
Reluctance of Physicians Towards
Digitization
5. White Paper on Indian Electronic Health Record Industry
Early birds in this industry have ample
scope for experimenting and rephrasing
business strategies, based on evolving
consumer needs. The Indian EMR
market is very different from western
countries in terms of consumer
awareness, tech savvy nature of people
and affordability.
Most of the patient portals operating in
India have emerged in past 1 or 2 years.
The founders and top management
people are software developers and are
not solely dependent on these portals.
Instead, these portals are run as
parallel business activities with a view
to educate the market as of now and
eventually start earning revenue in
next couple of years. As the very first
step to tap the market, market
awareness is mandatory. Along with
product development, strategists
should concentrate on marketing. A
dedicated marketing team can work on
effective strategies to educate the users
and make them realize the visible
benefits of using the portal.
Market education can be done in 'n'
number of ways and instead of relying
on a single source; companies should
work out different approaches to reach
customers. Web promotions, seminars,
conferences, road shows are some of the
probable ways to create brand value.
Although India is at a nascent stage of
technology adoption but as they say,
every cloud has a silver lining.
Of late, major hospital chains and a few
tech savvy patients are embracing the
technologies for convenience. Looking
at rapid tilt of consumers towards
smart phones, developers should focus
on smart phone apps apart from PC
interface to cater to the growing
number of smart phone users in the
country (67 Million subscribers in 2013
as per VC firm KPCB).
The next wave of healthcare IT is
awaiting you.
"Interacting with industry
players, doctors and patients
using these innovative
portals and software
services, we could draw that
there is a hesitation among
users to use patient portals.
One of the major reasons
behind this is the gap
between what is required
and what is offered. For
example, currently a few
portals provide the facility of
online consultation. Patients
believe that the service will
be fruitful if the physician of
their choice provides the
consultation. Various such
gaps exist in the current
industry landscape. Price
sensitivity is another major
concern. India, being a price
sensitive market, the
products should be offered at
reasonable rates. Products
offering value for money will
be readily accepted by
consumers."
An Insight into the Future
6. White Paper on Indian Electronic Health Record Industry
RNCOS is a leading business consultancy services company believes that in today's cut-throat environment,
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7. White Paper on Indian Electronic Health Record Industry
RNCOS is a business consultancy services firm that provides services to clients across the Globe. With more than a
decade of industry experience and expertise, we boast of a distinguished clientele' across multi geographies and industry
verticals. Our strength lies in the healthcare sector besides Retail and Information Technology.
Be it market testing, product launch, competition assessment, customer satisfaction study, pricing analysis or any other
requirement, RNCOS custom research team acts proactively to fit in the best possible solution for our valued clients.
We believe in multi-level client interaction and complete transparency from the project commencement till effective
implementation, thus ensuring total customer satisfaction at the end.
Having served close to 200 renowned as well as start-ups globally, our strength lies in multilingual and multi geography
tie-ups with leading market survey partners who assist us in gaining vital primary insight straight from the horse's
mouth.
Vartika Sehgal
Sr. Research Specialist
RNCOS
B-129, Sector - 6, Noida - 201301
Phone: + 91 (120) 4224700
Fax: +91 (120) 4224707
Email: marketing@rncos.com
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