Online Healthcare in 2015 & Beyond

There are all kinds of facts, figures, and guesses floating around right now as to what will be the top healthcare challenges and trends in 2015 and beyond. The Indian healthcare sector alone is estimated to touch $160 billion in 2017 – roughly double from what it was in 2012 (according to a report by Equentis Capitals) resulting in the CAGR growth rate of about 15%. There are a bunch of factors such as easier access to good healthcare services, relative increase in incomes and more emphasis on health awareness all contributing to this growth. Not just this, there is a significant demand in the quality of healthcare services in Tier-II and Tier-III cities which means people are recognizing the need for specialty-care.

India’s obvious advantage is the large pool of medical professionals and the dramatically lower medical costs as compared to other Asian and western countries. The surgeries reportedly cost one-tenth of that in US or Europe, making it a lucrative location for medical tourism and even R&D. Other than being widely known to be an English speaking country, alternative techniques like Homeopathy, Ayurveda, Yoga and Unani make it stand out when compared to other competing south-east Asian and middle-eastern countries.

Technology will be a game changer in the manner in which healthcare services will be delivered in India. The private sector will be the major driving force behind technology adoption in the Indian healthcare segment. To optimize costs and effectively manage operations, IT solutions will become an integral part of process management, patient care and the Management Information System (MIS) in hospitals. With the health insurance sector poised for major growth in the coming decade, increasing demand from this sector for more efficient systems for storage and retrieval of information will put pressure on hospitals and other healthcare providers to imbibe technology to modernize existing infrastructure.

The convergence of healthcare with upcoming technologies such as Cloud Computing and wireless technologies will play a key role in improving accessibility and meeting the challenge of manpower shortage. The coming years are expected to witness greater deployment of tools such as Telemedicine, Teleradiology, Hospital Information Systems (HIS)/Hospital Management Information Systems (HMIS), online or Electronic Medical Records (EMR), etc.

It is estimated that there will be over 550 million internet users in 2018. 
In India, there will be an estimated 200M smartphone users by 2016.

Online healthcare has increased communication among various people. It is not only making doctors and hospitals more accessible to patients, it is also helping patients connect with other patients. People want to read real stories not just to be informed, but to be inspired. Furthermore, it is assisting people to learn more about their bodies and give all kinds of health information to potential patients- making them aware of treatment options and preventive measures.

Doctors are connecting with other doctors across the world. This global shift in digital healthcare is making it possible for people to receive more personalized and precise medicine and health services – reducing errors and cost, in turn, improving quality and providing easier access to medical facilities.

Challenges

India is home to a majority of people who are referred to doctors by family and relatives or by word-of-mouth. Making people believe that their health issues can be handled through the internet is a real problem. Building trust among these people can spell great success for healthcare portals.

Another point to note is that there are several healthcare start-ups focusing solely on ‘booking appointments’, and not many players in the hospitalization space. In India, the domestic hospitalization industry is a total of $280 billion (according to a McKinsey report), while the international hospitalization industry is indicated to be about $4 + billion (according to a report by Ministry of Health/KPMG 2014). This means, massive business for start-ups like Credihealth, who are adopting hospitalization as their forté.

Wearable Health Technology: The future of medical devices

The terms “wearable technology“, “wearable devices“, and “wearables” all refer to electronic technologies or computers that are incorporated into items of clothing and accessories which can comfortably be worn on the body. These wearable devices can perform many of the same computing tasks as mobile phones and laptop computers; however, in some cases, wearable technology can outperform these hand-held devices entirely. Wearable technology tends to be more sophisticated than hand-held technology on the market today because it can provide sensory and scanning features not typically seen in mobile and laptop devices, such as biofeedback and tracking of physiological function.

Generally, wearable technology will have some form of communications capability and will allow the wearer access to information in real time. Data-input capabilities are also a feature of such devices, as is local storage. Examples of wearable devices include watches, glasses, contact lenses, e-textiles and smart fabrics, headbands, beanies and caps, jewelry such as rings, bracelets, and hearing aid-like devices that are designed to look like earrings.


As the potential uses in various fields continues to grow, the sociological and cultural impact wearable technology will have in the future should not be minimized. Already, the current hand-held devices available to consumers, such as Smart Phones, iPods and tablets, have changed the technological and social landscapes on a global scale, such that, walking out in public and seeing an individual engaging with a hand-held device is commonplace. Such an image was nonexistent only 20 years ago. With that in mind, developers and analysts predict that wearable technology will very quickly change the technological and cultural landscapes once again, and may even change the nature of mobile phones and other hand-held devices entirely.

The first round of technology may be limited, but eventually the companies could compete in a global blood-sugar tracking market worth over $12 billion by 2017, according to research firm GlobalData.


Non-invasive technology could take many forms. Electricity or ultrasound could pull glucose through the skin for measurement, for instance, or a light could be shined through the skin so that a spectroscope could measure for indications of glucose.

Google has been public about some of its plans: it has developed a “smart” contact lens that measures glucose. In a blog post detailing plans for its smart contact lens, Google described an LED system that could warn of high or low blood sugar by flashing tiny lights. It has recently said it is looking for partners to bring the lens to market.

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Google is developing a contact lens to help diabetics manage their blood sugar levels.Photo: Getty Images

The device, which uses tiny chips and sensors that resemble bits of glitter to measure glucose levels in tears, is expected to be years away from commercial development, and skeptics wonder if it will ever be ready.

Previous attempts at accurate non-invasive measurement have been foiled by body movement, and fluctuations in hydration and temperature. Tears also have lower concentrations of glucose, which are harder to track.