Accelerated health care transformation: lessons from the Philippines
by Antonio De Castro
In many parts of the world, it has become almost a cliché to talk about how health care has changed and is continuing to change due to the pandemic. We are aware of huge adoption of digital consultation methods around the world. However, is the reality different in different parts of the world?
As part of SAS’ global expert study exploring AI and digital transformation in a post-pandemic world, I reached out to Amiel Zosimo Herrera, founder and CEO of MedCheck, an IT and services company based in the Philippines that specializes in the collection and analysis of real-world data and data around non-communicable diseases. Their story is interesting and exemplary because of the challenges that comes along deploying state of the art technologies and methods to developing countries like the Philippines.
Acceleration towards digital
Amiel’s first remark when asked about the big changes for Medcheck during the pandemic was about increase in adoption of their services.
“Our client base jumped more than 400% because of the pandemic. Before, we were growing steadily in niche segments, and mainly within groups, clinics, and institutions that were already prioritizing not just digital, but clinical data, research, and disease registries, which is our main work. During the pandemic, however, we saw pretty much all physicians, hospitals, and clinics make digital adoption their number one priority, whereas it was previously maybe three or four on the list.”
This gave the organization a tangible opportunity to help patients, doctors, and the health care system during a crisis, and they took actionable steps to do this. Notably, they partnered with Twilio to enable telemedicine and video consultations. They also added an e-prescription module, patient portal, payment gateways and integrations with pay wallets, all to preserve continuity of care.
This acceleration for digital transformation is, of course, global but Amiel shares his insights about the maturity of the ASEAN region.
“… We have the necessary infrastructure, even in the most remote provinces — wifi, smart phones and so on. After the pandemic, I think we will see digital adoption continue to be a mainstay in health care in the ASEAN region. There will always be a very human element to health care, and I think face-to-face consultations will always be generally preferred over telemedicine. However, technology will be a core way to improve access, efficiency, and quality of care.”
Early stage
Amiel notes, however, that despite rapid acceleration, the use of data and advanced analytics is still at a fairly early stage in terms of adoption for the region. He feels that most organizations are still establishing their systems for data access, collection and aggregation which would be the foundations for establishing advanced analytics and AI capabilities. Even though he feels it’s a bit early to speak about AI in ASEAN, Medcheck wants to raise awareness on what can be done with analytics.
“We use AI for internal data processing, such as automation of data cleaning tasks to accelerate time to market. Introducing AI to our clients and how it applies to the health care industry is also an important part of our roadmap.”
Looking back at the company’s journey, Amiel is proud of the company pioneering EHR in the region and their current achievements. But he recognizes that it is a constantly evolving field where they have to make constant improvements and innovations.
“We plan to further incorporate advanced analytics to generate more insights from our data. We will also continue to optimize the product experience and expand our capabilities to a wider audience. I think I would put MedCheck at a solid nine out of ten for digital capabilities, but realistically, that ‘ten’ status is a moving target. For example, we are already starting to work on genetics-based clinical studies. Three years ago, I would have said that was only a dream.”
It’s always interesting how experiences translate across geographies and sectors. Amiel notes that many of the issues exercising data scientists in other parts of the world apply in the Philippines, too, but with some caveats and differences.
“Our focus on real world data and precision medicine means that using more advanced analytics is a top priority. We have seen within the company that AI has a huge impact on efficiency and enabling data-driven decisions in all aspects of our work. However, what we are doing is very new in the health care sector in the ASEAN region, and there are plenty of concerns and questions about data privacy and security, and these are a major part of our discussions with clients. As I see it, an important part of our job is to educate everyone and build trust in the technology.”
Curious about Real World Data and how technology and analytics are empowering health care providers and life science companies?
As the founder and future of analytics, SAS has deep roots within health care and life science, visit our SAS Health page: SAS Health | SAS and our Health Pulse podcast (now on youtube).
Also, check out what Medcheck is pioneering in South East Asia: MedCheck- The Best, Easy-to-Use EMR for your Clinic
This interview is part of a recent interview study by SAS on how the pandemic has accelerated digitalization: Catch more conclusions from the study on post pandemic transformation.
