By Ayush Jain
Despite making significant advancements over the recent decades, India sits far from being able to provide accessible, efficient, and affordable healthcare to the vast majority of its citizens.
As per a Ballard Brief report, about 75% of health infrastructure and resources are focused in urban areas, catering to only 27% of the population. This stark concentration leaves a considerable majority of rural and semi-urban residents facing challenges in accessing quality healthcare services. Despite the presence of modern, world-class healthcare facilities at primary, secondary, and tertiary levels, a significant imbalance exists. The majority of these facilities are clustered in metropolitan areas and large cities, resulting in a lack of quality healthcare for a substantial proportion of the population residing in smaller or remote cities and villages, especially at the primary level.
Digitalization of healthcare and concurrent advancements in medical technologies have the potential to change this scenario. Digitizing patient’s health data in the form of EHR (Electronic Health Record) can be considered a foundational aspect of unlocking the full potential of modern technologies in making quality healthcare accessible to all. [1]
Just as India’s digital banking and payments revolution has advanced financial inclusion and brought formal banking within reach of anyone with an Internet-connected smartphone – today, Indians can open a bank account, apply for loans and make transactions without ever visiting a bank branch – digitized healthcare can truly revolutionize the country’s healthcare delivery, and help meet its ambitious goal of Universal Health Coverage (UHC). And as mentioned above, embracing EHR, and digitizing citizens’ health information will be the core aspect of realizing this vision.
In 2021, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), which aims to establish individualized health IDs for every citizen, along with a comprehensive registry of healthcare professionals and facilities. This is an early and welcome step, but a lot more needs to be done to boost the adoption of EHR by all healthcare providers.
Once a nationwide system of EHR is in place, it will have a far-reaching impact on all key stakeholders, starting with healthcare providers and the beneficiaries. Through the integration of advanced analytics and decision support tools, medical practitioners stand to elevate clinical results and bolster patient safety using EHR. Improved clinical decisions can benefit not only individuals but hold the potential to extend its positive impact to the broader community.
The combination of AI and EHR will open up new possibilities for potential. Consider AI systems as the silent monitors of the EHR world, meticulously examining patient data to provide customized treatment suggestions and diagnostic insights. Moreover, Natural Language Processing skillfully generates organised data from the disorganised clinical notes, improving precision with each step.
Taking a step further, the utilisation of predictive analytics on anonymized aggregate-level data could play a pivotal role in identifying and addressing at-risk groups through proactive preventive interventions. This sophisticated approach allows for a more comprehensive and targeted healthcare strategy.
EHR systems also promise to usher in improvements in patient autonomy and engagement. By actively involving individuals in their healthcare decision-making process, secure patient portals offer access to vital information such as lab results, treatment plans, and medical records. This empowerment is expected to foster a sense of responsibility among patients, encouraging adherence to treatment plans and preventive measures. The transparency and accessibility provided by these systems can enhance patient awareness, alleviate the burden on the healthcare system, and ultimately contribute to heightened patient satisfaction.
Further, given the sheer size of India and the relatively poor density of medical facilities in large swathes of the country, the true potential of telemedicine could be unlocked, allowing remote consultations and follow-up care, especially in impoverished areas.
Nationwide adoption of EHR would lead the way for truly democratizing healthcare for all – and paving the way towards improved health and prosperity for its citizens and improving the quality of life for well over a billion people. The government is thankfully growing increasingly cognizant of the potential of EHR in improving healthcare delivery and we expect to see major policy announcements soon.
(The author is Ayush Jain, CEO, of Mindbowser Inc., and the views expressed in this article are his own)
