There is no Market for EMR in India
India is a very price sensitive market. The Maruti/Suzuki advertisement - 'kitna deti hai?' is an epitome of the reality. The big success of the mobile/telecom in India is because of it gave an instant gratification to the users. The Sabjiwala vendor keeps a mobile because of free incoming, such that he can be called by the customers for home delivery and he gets an instant boost to business - instant gratification.
Likewise in the Healthcare the hospitals have a 2-5% budget for IT and give a step motherly treatment to IT. All because IT is considered as a support function and not a direct business benefit. Most of this budget is spent in areas that give tangible business benefits and/or instant gratification - e.g. HIS and in that for Billing, Material Management, Procurement, Lab and Pharmacy. The EMR is an after thought and that too almost never for clinical reasons; rather EMR is used as a point-of-use application for material management.
The current Healthcare Financing model is to blame for this. Every cost gets passed on to the patient. >80% is pay-out-of-pocket. Therefore the hospital must ask the question at every stage - After all how much can the hospital load the patient's bill? Almost 2% of the Indian population falls below the poverty line every year because of medical expenses; for which they have to sell their land and assets.
Bottomline - Indian Healthcare-IT market is very small and almost negligible for EMR, until new models of Healthcare financing emerge - e.g. Govt's Universal Healthcare, 49% FDI in Health Insurance, Micro Finance etc.
Likewise in the Healthcare the hospitals have a 2-5% budget for IT and give a step motherly treatment to IT. All because IT is considered as a support function and not a direct business benefit. Most of this budget is spent in areas that give tangible business benefits and/or instant gratification - e.g. HIS and in that for Billing, Material Management, Procurement, Lab and Pharmacy. The EMR is an after thought and that too almost never for clinical reasons; rather EMR is used as a point-of-use application for material management.
The current Healthcare Financing model is to blame for this. Every cost gets passed on to the patient. >80% is pay-out-of-pocket. Therefore the hospital must ask the question at every stage - After all how much can the hospital load the patient's bill? Almost 2% of the Indian population falls below the poverty line every year because of medical expenses; for which they have to sell their land and assets.
Bottomline - Indian Healthcare-IT market is very small and almost negligible for EMR, until new models of Healthcare financing emerge - e.g. Govt's Universal Healthcare, 49% FDI in Health Insurance, Micro Finance etc.
posted by robusthealth at
6:10 PM
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