Challenges for mid-size hospitals

MUMBAI: In recent times, the mid-size hospital segment in India is touted to be one of the front runners in the Healthcare Provider space. This could be attributed to the fact that it plays a pivotal role in expanding health services to the various parts of the country including the A & B class cities and beyond.

Frost & Sullivan is of the view that this Tier 2 segment is poised for the fastest growth, as the future of the Healthcare Delivery market is slowly reaching a point of saturation in metro cities in India. Growth is likely to happen in smaller cities and towns, more popularly described as the "Middle of the Pyramid".

This segment provides single specialty, multi-specialty and general medical services. Such hospitals are set-up and managed either by Charitable Trusts, entrepreneur clinicians or a group of like-minded professionals.

The mid-size (non-corporate) hospital segment caters mainly to the lower and middle-income strata of the society and hence they are proactively looking at options to reduce their operating costs and improving their efficiencies. Astounding as it may sound, the mid-size hospitals more specifically in smaller towns and cities are very technology absorbent.

Frost & Sullivan research has proved that the mid-size hospitals proactively sources technology for two reasons: to improve their brand-image in the healthcare space as well as to be more competitive in a market which caters to less affording patients.

To address the growth and increasing trend for IT requirements by the Mid-Size Hospital segment, Frost & Sullivan had convened a one day workshop on "Challenges for Mid-Size Hospitals - How IT can solve them", meant exclusively for key decision-makers of mid-size hospitals, in Mumbai, at The Grand Hyatt.

Some of the major challenges discussed were: Training and implementation, purchase of correct software and guidance for the same, maintenance and software support service, staff support, vendor support & coordination (software, hardware, networking etc), and unawareness of standard-based software in the market.

Sandeep Sinha, Program Manager, Healthcare Practice at Frost & Sullivan highlighted that implementation of IT is the major challenge for the mid-size hospital segment, as they don't have clear roadmap for IT in their hospitals, well defined budgetary allocation and availability of cost effective yet superlative technology platforms to enable them to be an efficient, effective and affordable healthcare provide for the masses.

Some of other key challenges in Health IT for mid-size hospitals are training and Implementation, purchase of correct software and guidance to purchase correct software, maintenance and software support service, staff support, vendor support & coordination (software, hardware, networking etc), unawareness of standard based software in the market.

Anurag Dubey, Senior Research Analyst, Healthcare Practice at Frost & Sullivan said that as per research findings 90% respondents have benefitted from IT in terms of reduced cost and improved customer satisfaction through efficient processes, 63% of respondents are not happy with the existing software service providers, average IT spending in IT procurement has increased from Rs. 1 million to Rs. 4.5 - 6 million and for new hospitals projects it has gone up to 10 million and above, most of the respondents' have plans to upgrade their IT infrastructure in near future. The CAGR for investment in IT up-gradation is approximately 35-50%.

Microsoft and Cisco are pleased to partner with Frost & Sullivan in this unique initiative. This augments their commitment to continue to grow the Health IT market in the region, and deliver excellence to healthcare providers while sustaining the position as the leading IT provider in India and the Asia Pacific region.

"Microsoft mission is to develop technologies in partnerships that enable transformation of healthcare in India so that we are able to Increase patient safety and quality of care, reduce the healthcare cost burden for individuals and create an environment for remote delivery of care for people in rural areas." - Neelam Dhawan, MD - Microsoft India.

CIOL Bureau