Indian Healthcare Facts:

• The Indian healthcare industry is currently valued at $61billion or R. 4 trillion today.
• The hospital industry in India has a stupendous growth rate at a CAGR of 16-17% and the industry is expected to touch $133billion or Rs. 8 trillion by 2022.
• The Indian healthcare industry, in total, will touch $280 billion by 2020.
• This healthcare sector in India will generate 40 million jobs by 2030
• Medical tourism to India contributes $3billion currently and is expected to reach $9 billion by 2020.
• The number of qualified medical doctors in India was 8,41,104 in 2017.
• Private hospitals in India account for 74% of the hospital industry while government hospital form only  26%.
• The Government of India has increased its budget contribution to the Indian healthcare industry to $4 billion or R. 31crore under the National Health Mission in 2019-20.
• The Ayushman Bharat program is the largest Government-funded healthcare program with nearly 500 million beneficiaries throughout the country.
• In India, "state-of-the-art" cardiac surgery cot a mere $ 1,800 . This is just 2 % of the average cost of heart surgery in the U.S. which is $90,000!
• Indian cardiac surgeons perform nearly 35 heart surgeries a day, including a heart transplant. This amount to 900 operation a month.
• The number of operation carried by Indian heart specialists in a month (900) equal the number of operations performed by U cardiologists in a year!
• Indian hospitals use sophisticated and "state-of-the-art" medical equipment for imaging, diagnostics, and surgery.
• EHRs have been implemented in most Indian hospitals and integrated with a central system with option for accessibility by clinical physicians even through an iPad. This drastically reduces the diagnostic time for patients.
• Bedside monitoring systems are also installed at Indian hospitals to help measure the patient's vital parameters.
• In India, the time taken by a physician to intervene in an urgent medical problem at night was just 8 minutes while in the U.S., it took an hour or even a whole day over the weekend!
• The savings augured by foreign medical tourists by seeking treatment in India range from 65% to even 90%.
• Reputed Indian hospitals treat as many as 50,000 foreign patients a year with the tourists thronging the hospital from even the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia and Europe.
• On an average, at least 10% of the revenue of an Indian hospital comes from foreign patients.
• Cardiac surgery, Paediatric Cardiac surgery, Neurosurgery, Spine surgery, Bariatric surgery, Cancer and IVF treatment are the most popular streams of clinical therapysought-after by medical tourists from abroad.

• According to the World Health Organization, one in ten patients encounters safety concerns while receiving treatment.
• There are more than 43 million patient safety incidents globally every year.
• Errors due to dispensing of wrong medications and drugs worldwide cost approximately USD 42 billion annually!

The Top 10 Patient Safety Issues

1. Wrong and erroneous diagnosis - This happens to be a multi-faced problem that is a result of various cognitive or systemic factors or sometimes a combination of both. It is a challenging issue as it often goes unnoticed until the patient is discharged. Miscommunication also causes diagnostic errors.
2. Unsafe usage of opioid medications for treatment – Opioids are medicines given for treating pain. They usually have addictive properties and physiological impact which may result in dangerous side-effects on the patient’s health. Often these drugs are misused in outpatient departments and referrals which may initiate self-medication in patients causing irreversible damage to body organs.
3. Lack of Internal Co-ordination - Failure to communication and lack of internal communication between the staff in hospitals leads to multiple consequences. This includes medication errors, delay in follow-up procedures and diagnostic lapses which deters effective treatment in patient care.
4. Staff induced Workarounds - Sometimes, hospital staff is tempted to circumvent a barrier by deploying their own workarounds between authorized and actual care practices. Though the problem may be temporarily solved, it is likely to go unnoticed and pose unsafe conditions to the patients endangering their lives.
5. Lack of Interoperability in Electronic Health Records (EHR) - Disparate and heterogeneous health systems deter the interoperability of EHRs which negatively impacts patient care. This creates hurdles by not providing a holistic view of the patient’s conditions particularly for medication reconciliation resulting in harmful drug interactions. EHR interoperability also hampers efficient care during emergencies and natural calamities.
6. Mismanagement of Behavioural Health - Acute healthcare calls for sufficient and competent behavioural strategy interventions. Failure to disseminate this can result in episodes of patient self-harming, violence, unauthorised discharges, poor healthcare outcomes and undue interference in treatment.
7. Lack of Emergency Preparedness - There is a rise in natural calamities like hurricanes, forest fires, volcanoes, earthquakes and cyclones and even man-made disasters like terrorism and indiscriminate shootings. Unpreparedness in such situations results in wrong alterations of healthcare operations leading to mass casualties.
8. Inadequate Staffing – Lack of licensed and qualified staff increases workloads and negligence thereby causing a rise of patient mortality rates.
9. Drug shortages - Severe shortages of emergency medications delay life-saving procedures leading to fatalities.
10. Lack of Hygiene - Failure in providing hygienic conditions and sterilized medical equipment leads to compromised care and has devastating effects.

Statistics on the use of digital marketing in healthcare

• According to a Deloitte survey, 52% of the consumers searched online for treatment options.
• A Demi Cooper Advertising survey reveals that

Reasons why digital marketing is the best method of retaining patients

1. The Online search for awareness or treatment options

• Through SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and through SEM (Search Engine Marketing), hospitals can channelize the traffic to their websites through the use of apt keywords in their websites.
• Blogs can also be optimized with keywords to divert traffic to hospital websites.
• Patient engagement strategies can be implemented through social media through relevant content, social media campaigns etc.
• Social media ads can also create awareness among the audience on healthcare options.

1. Internal Traffic Flow and Clear Idea of Operation Flow – Every staff member of the hospital, even at the bottom levels should be well aware of the patient flow and they should be able to direct the patients in the right direction. The patient flow stream should be focussed more on the patient convenience that provides better patient experience.
2. Ensure Diagnostic and Consultation Processes that Don’t Overlap – The diagnostic facilities should ensure proximity with proper signboards within the hospital area. Most importantly the diagnostic centres should not cross paths during the checking process. A faster consultation and diagnosis process make the patients to find solution for the ailments or sickness without any further delay.
3. Cover All Patient Touch-Points based on the Patient Health Condition – Hospital management very well know each health condition requires a separate diagnostic pattern. The healthcare provider should be aware and streamline the patient flow in such a way that all the touch-points are covered based on the health condition before moving the patient to a different department. Pulling back a patient for any test or consultation will result in negative patient experience, which the healthcare provider should focus in a meticulous manner.
4. Well Stated Patient Destinations and Flow Chart – It is important to have the infrastructure with clear and understandable signage. A clear blueprint of the hospital infrastructure stating which department located where along with the directions, avoid any sort of confusion within the reach. The waiting lobbies, consultation rooms, restrooms, diagnostic centres, cafeteria, pharmacy and billing section should be rightly placed and managed with clear signage.
5. Parking and Other Hospitality Facilities – For every hospital infrastructure it is important to maintain a free traffic flow. Both emergency and non-emergency vehicles should be aligned appropriately and ensure seamless flow. The emergency vehicles should have easy access to reach the trauma care department and to the other diagnostic facilities.

• Currently, Healthcare Delivery Model calls for sustainability and ability to bridge the gap between cost and quality
• Healthcare now  emphasizes on ‘service for value’ not  ‘service for volumes’
• Performance evaluation in healthcare is  done on  multiple parameters – cost control, quality, patient safety and satisfaction
• Reimbursements  may be assessed on multi-domains –clinical, service, outcomes and efficiency measures
• Value based purchasing replaces fee-for service model
• Regional Macroeconomics  demands better planning
• Increased numbers of aging population calls for critical and ambulatory care services
• Increased healthcare resource costs
• Pervasive technology
• Necessity of huge capital investments for information technology and networking, program development and hospital  staff recruitment

• In-Patient Care
• Ambulatory Care
• Diagnostic and Treatment Functions
• Support Services
• Public Utility Spaces

• Improving Patient Experience and Outcomes and enhancing operational efficiencies by re-modelling patient flows appropriately
• Integration of Information Technology/ Networking to every possible patient contact point to promote faster and error-free transmission of digital information
• Providing interactive systems such as electronic kiosks, computerized direction systems and modular planning to improve patient accessibility
• Ability to deal with flexibility and change periodically and consistently
• Usage of systematic approach and interior design standards
• Capability of quicker response to new service requirements which is crucial for remaining competitive
• Scaling up facility to meet new technology developments and standards
• Need for Bold Master Plans for right sizing facilities and revamping healthcare delivery
• High productivity resource allocation for surgeries including pre-operative units for ambulatory patients, multi-speciality operation theatres and facilities for Minimal Invasive Techniques(MIT) and Telemedicine
• Catering to Emergency Medicine Volumes with new Patient-Care Delivery Models

• Patient centric service
• Operational Efficiency and enhanced Patient Safety
• Flexibility for expansion
• Capability to handle technology advancements
• Sustainable design for meeting high occupancy needs and round the clock patient care
• Promotes patient- friendly healing environment with art and hospitality

• Hospital Patient Management System(HPMS) for taking care of both inpatients and out patients including systems for registration, admission, medical history, diagnosis, treatment, progress and 
• Ward and Bed Management
• Physician Management
• Treatment Management
• Nursing Management
• Medical Services Management including operation theatres, pharmacy and laboratory, radiology and cardiology information systems
• Material Management for both medical and non-medical items
• Pathology Management including appointment scheduling, diagnostic tests and report generation
• Billing Management

• Quick access to reliable digital information including patients related data(demographics, gender, age, disease, diagnosis, treatment etc. ) ,finance systems, medication distribution for monitoring drug usage, patient diet charts by maintaining Electronic Health Records
• User friendly multilingual interfaces
• Facility for  training vendors
• Flexible to technology changes
• Affordable and scalable with hospital's growing needs
• Patient-centric and medical-staff centric
• Robust structure   incorporating a sustainable reimbursement model for cost coverage

• Delivers  'accountable and high quality ' patient care leading to customer delight and enhanced customer experience
• Ensures  retention of existing clientele for repeat customers with pre-existing ailments
• Encourages expansion of the customer base  for prospective patients using  proactive Preventive Health  Maintenance approach
• Gives better financial management by portraying transparency ,reducing inventory leakages, minimising costs and increasing operational efficiencies
• Enhances information integrity through web sharing
• Minimises  transcription errors
• Reduces duplication of relevant information
• Optimises report turnaround time
• Increases the hospital's  brand image and reputation 

• Scalability from pilot implementations to full-fledged systems
• Interoperability and cooperation between all major stake holders
• Safety of the patient's personal data and other sensitive information