Meddo is a health-tech startup working in towards organising the ambulatory care segment of the Indian healthcare sector. The organisation undertook a digital survey across 500 families from Delhi NCR to understand trends around digital appointments and consultations, physical and electronic record management and related trends and preferences. While COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated digital transformation across sectors including healthcare, behavioural change takes time and therefore understanding the evolution pattern and nuances attached to it helps experts offer best services to prospective patients.
Some key trends that surfaced in the survey were:
Tele-medicine trends:
- Frequency of booking an online appointment: Close to 65% of respondents book a digital clinical appointment at least once a year, while 34% book it quarterly
- Second opinions: Over 64.2% of respondents turn to digital mediums to seek the second opinion
- Sources of doctor discovery: Word of mouth (42.2%), followed by internet search (32.3%.3%) and doctor referrals (21.7%) are the primary sources
- Doctor section criteria: Top five considerations when selecting a doctor (listed rank wise) Clinical experience and qualification
Proximity/accessibility
Patient feedback and reviews – on digital platforms
Fees – affordability / Value for money
Association with a reputed hospital/institution
- Tele-consultation: 49.1% of respondents have never booked teleconsultation via phone or internet, which showcases that there is still a need to spread awareness and drive the transition
- Preferred teleconsultation medium:
While the majority of people are most comfortable with audio calls (48.1%)
Nearly 40% of people prefer a video chat and
Remaining 11.1% find text chatting an effective medium of communication when consulting a clinician
- Top five roadblocks for patients which keep them from the switch to telemedicine: (listed rank wise)
Perceived risk is higher: chances of misdiagnosis in teleconsultation are high
Patients have a trusted family doctor and they do not feel the need to experiment online
Video calls are ineffective – network concerns, lack or personalisation
The technical inability of patients – both access and user-friendliness are a challenge
Lastly, patients feel that sharing case history digitally is challenging (lack of ERM).
Adding to the above, Mr Saurabh Kocchar, Founder Meddo, stated that, “COVID-19 pushed the healthcare system to the edge globally and India is no different. Though, a very important change was seen with the beginning of Lockdown, as there is a better acceptance of technology both from doctors and patients’ side – whether it is with tele-consults or otherwise. Even though there is increased focus and talk about health tech, there is still persistent at many places and we are not using technology enough in healthcare. Let’s hope we can covert this attention into long term sustainable difference in the way we approach healthcare.”
Diagnostics and digital record management:
- Frequency of health-check-ups: Close to 47% of respondents undertake clinical tests only when there is a clinical need and doctor prescribes it to them
- Health records management: While 72% of respondents maintain health records for self and family, 14% of people just maintain lab reports and nearly 13% of people do not maintain any clinical history at all
- Top five considerations when selecting a diagnostic lab: (listed rank wise)
Certification by the respective governing body
Past patient experience and on-time results delivery
Brand name – reputation and credibility
Ease of access – digital reports
Offers and discounts and doctor’s recommendation
Medical institutes for the longest have put the responsibility of record maintenance on patients. Keeping records of long and meticulous health journey and varied diagnostic tests and adopted treatment paths is a complex process. Most often, even if a small report goes missing, a person must get his / her entire diagnosis redone and this experience can be very draining – financially, physically and psychologically. Therefore the results clearly hint towards a growing inclination to interact with accredited and certified labs which offer ease of access and reporting.
Even after the world turning into Digital Mode, 13% of the population still do not maintain health records. At best, 14% just maintain lab records for future reference. And the only reliving number here is that nearly 72% of respondents maintain health records for self and family. This not only makes the treatment process less worrisome, but it also minimises the problem of missing records. The top 3 factors which drives people for booking of online lab tests mostly are certification by respective governing body/s, reviews of other patients and past experience of family members and the brand name. However, people now also started reviewing aspects like ease of digital records maintenance and offers and discounts by the brand as well before booking for an online lab for test.
Why routine health check-ups are not in Delhiites priority list?
Reports say 1 in 3 persons in Delhi suffers from high blood pressure, and heart ailments which are the biggest killers. According to state government reports, irregular health check-ups and tests are the reason behind it and will cause a huge burden on the state in the coming future. As per the study results, the out of pocket expenditure on OPD consultations and Tests are the biggest factor of people less doctor consultations and forestalling regular health check-ups by people.
Adding to the above, Mr Saurabh Kocchar, Founder Meddo, stated that, “mandatory health check-up schemes should be introduced in every office and organization, like the one announced by Delhi Government for there employees aged above 40years and the cost of the medical examination will be borne by their respective departments. Under the scheme, a male employee will be entitled to reimbursement of Rs 2,000, while women will get Rs 2,200. Such schemes and policies will help in further achieving the goal of early detection and prevention of diseases. Along-with such schemes, OPD and Lab Tests should also be covered under Insurance schemes which act as a catalyst for strengthening the care delivery system. If robust actions are not taken then routine tests will remain a far off tale for the people of Delhi and India.”
A healthy mind and body are something that we often take for granted and COVID-19 taught us this a very hard way. Being healthy is as much about eating right and exercising as it is about getting screened by a healthcare professional regularly. All it takes is a little bit of attention on our part and good health is not that far from what one imagines.