Why should Alyve Health exist?

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

— ARTHUR C. CLARKE

The Indian healthcare market is a USD 250 B+ market and growing at ~20% YoY. “Digital health” which was on the fringes is now at the centre. Take telemedicine for instance — 50 M+ digital “lockdown” users in just the last 3 months; 80% of whom were accessing digital health for the very first time (source : Practo Insights Report, 2020). The e-pharmacy market is on fire with Amazon and RIL entering the fray. NHDM has announced an ambitious program of single health id aimed at “UPI”zation of healthcare.

However, there are massive challenges. Talk to people who have actually experienced the care system first hand (personally or for their close family members) and you will incite very strong emotions. Words like “exhaustion”, “frustration”, “mistrust”, “nobody cares”, “hell”, “fragmented”, “remorse” and “anger” are what one hears and that too in the same breath. You will hear stories of lack of transparency, lack of accountability and an overall feeling of helplessness. Even on the non-medical side, there are similar stories of frustration and a sense of deja vu. For years, the most common new year resolutions have remained the same — exercising, eating right and losing weight (source : Statista, US data). Achieving and sustaining outcomes is one of the toughest challenges customers talk about.

To understand the extent of the issue, consider the most morbid event that all of us will experience one day — that of death. Despite all the talk of Covid etc., more than 60% of deaths each year is due to Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs). Hypertension, cardiac issues, diabetes, breathing disorders and cancer are the most prevalent NCDs. More than 50% urban Indians over the age of 30 are estimated to have at least one NCD. Deaths due to NCDs do not happen overnight — they happen after years of poorly managed conditions. Furthermore, such conditions are under-diagnosed because they are asymptomatic in nature. For instance, ten thousand people die everyday in India due to cardiac issues. Unfortunately, most of these people realise that they have an issue moments before they die.

“There are more than 9,000 billing codes for individual procedures and units of care. But there is not a single billing code for patient adherence or improvement, or for helping patients stay well.”
― Clayton M. Christensen, Innovator’s Prescription

The current model of healthcare is not designed to manage NCDs. They are a “ fix” to treat exacerbations or emergencies. Patients spend a few minutes or at the most a few hours with their medical practitioner but spend days and years trying to adhere to medication and lifestyle advice. Adherence to medical and lifestyle advise is very poor with over 70% patients slipping up (Source: estimates from several studies around the World). This is because they receive “one size fits all recommendations” like walk 10,000 steps, eat salad etc. relying largely on their will power. In addition to poor outcomes, the result is a dangerous concoction of self medication / no change in medication for years and emergency (re)hospitalisations. This is the vicious cycle that most patients are trapped in.Such a system cannot be called “health”care — this is actually “sick” care designed to treat the sick and hope that their health somehow gets better after they are treated. This is the very definition of a “band-aid” solution. “Digitizing” this broken model is not going to help at all — it will just lead to a bunch of digital band-aid solutions. So if you were thinking that the band of e-pharmacies and telemedicine operators are going to solve your health problems — think again!

So, is there an alternative ? Is there really a way out of the complicated maze of healthcare? Can a business truly “care” at a personal level? Can outcomes be achieved and sustained? What is this eco-system that Alyve Health is building?

To illustrate with just one example, imagine a World where

• You start with the outcome you want to achieve (e.g. financially protect your parents from unforeseen medical expenses)
• Evaluate your options to achieve this outcome along with recommended “adjacent” solutions (e.g. parent insurance at honest prices + alerts if they may need urgent medical attention days before the actual event — achieved through AI and smart device integrations)
• Purchase your “peace of mind”!

This is the alternate World we are building. No doubt there are multiple “Lego Blocks” in this World but that’s precisely the challenge which drives us to venture into the unchartered! This is the beginning. We will continue to share our “creation stories” with you — our community. We would love to have you ride this incredible journey with us. To stay updated on our launches, follow us on Linkedin and Medium. Leave your thoughts below!