Transformation of Healthcare in India- Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission
“It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver”- Mahatma Gandhi
From a young age, every individual in any culture is given one universal learning, that is, to take care of one’s health and well-being. Everything from economy, business, education, prosperity etc. is linked to the health of the individuals in a state. One can perform her/his job or duties only when she/he is healthy and capable. This puts paramount importance on the healthcare infrastructure in a country since it is linked with the growth (both economic & social) of that respective country. This importance is understood by policy makers around the world & the sustainable development goals are a witness to the same. UN Sustainable Development Goals (Goal No. 3) states to provide “Good Health & Well-being” for people around the globe. The Constitution of India under Article 47 mentions the duty of the state to raise the level of nutrition and the standard of living and to improve public health of all. This Directive Principle guides the state to make necessary legislations or executive action to improve the infrastructure for seamless delivery of healthcare in India. Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission is a step in the right direction.
What is Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM)?
ABDM aims to play a supporting role in the modernization of the healthcare infrastructure in the country by developing a “digital backbone” for the health ecosystem in India. The issues of information asymmetry, poor access to health providers, inefficient management of health records etc. will be addressed to some extent by the implementation of ABDM. It is important to understand the different components of ABDM to understand the role that it will play and the areas that will be disrupted when such an ecosystem will come to shape in the near future. Industries from Health Care, Life Sciences, Insurance, Telemedicine will observe a significant disruption in their business models and ecosystems.
Digital Health ID
The process of sharing medical records, prescriptions, old test reports etc. is a difficult and tiring process for the consumers. Every new visit to a hospital requires discussion regarding the medical history and past diagnosis or treatments. It is a tiring process for consumers whenever they travel for medical tourism to a different city or state and to explain the entire history to a new practitioner is not easy. To reduce these hassles for the public, the Digital Health ID aims to provide a seamless and hassle-free method for sharing health related past data digitally. Every travel/visit to a new doctor in a new city will only require the unique Digital Health ID of the patient and the practitioner will have full access to the medical history of the patient without the patient worrying about searching and organizing the different reports and files of her/his past records.
Health Records
As observed in the case of Health ID that management of health records is a gruesome task for people. Hence, Personal Health Record application will assist the patient in seamless and efficient management of her/his medical records including diagnosis reports, lab test reports etc. This will assist in storing their data digitally to manage & access it anytime and anyplace that they desire. Considering the sensitivity of the information, this application would be ensuring privacy and security by utilizing the important frameworks and principles regarding digital security.
Health Facility Registry and Healthcare Professionals Registry
It is a challenge for the patient and her/his relatives when they are unaware of information regarding the best healthcare professionals in their region or across the country. This information asymmetry results in loss of precious time that is wasted in searching for the right doctor/hospital for their health condition. This search cost ends in costing those precious lives which could have been saved if action was taken quickly. This is where the Healthcare Professionals Registry comes into play. It will provide a repository of all the registered healthcare professional with their expertise within a field of medicine. It would assist the patient’s family to act quickly and contact the right doctor for their situation.
Health Facility Registry will assist the consumers by providing them a repository of all the health facilities (hospitals, laboratories, clinics, wellness centers etc.) both government owned and private. Both components combined would assist the patient and her/his relatives in mitigating the issues of information asymmetry and can make a timely and wise decision. This may result in saving some precious lives and ultimately add to the development of the country.
How will the Health Insurance Industry get impacted?
Health Insurance Industry has an opportunity to reduce the structural challenges that they face frequently in their business. Information Asymmetry can be mitigated with correct medical history of the policyholder thereby reducing the scope of information concealing, falsified data, and frauds. Linking of Health ID during policy origination and using the available data to meticulously assess risk profile of an individual can be a WIN-WIN situation for both policyholder and insurance provider. The policyholder will receive benefits of a reduced premium amount and the insurer will benefit from a reduced risk of frauds. The utilization of sensitive data like health records of individuals have certain serious challenges and threats.
This usage of data should only be allowed if we have robust data governance and data security measures and guidelines available with us. No insurance company or any other service provider should be allowed access to the data if we are unsure of data security practices. We are witness to data leakages in recent past due to various hacker groups around the globe and we have seen the data mishap from a leading retail pizza outlet this year, data stolen & shared on the dark web. The sensitivity of health data is immense in the sense that its misuse can be catastrophic. Hence, we should be diligent and serious about the governance of health & medical data of the people and should allow peripheral sharing after prudent procedures are available.
The Way Forward
Applications of Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission are endless for the Insurance Industry in the coming years, and it would be beneficial for both the policyholders and the insurance companies. Consideration of judicial data governance mechanisms would ensure proper safety and security of the sensitive data and would also protect the privacy of the individual. This ambitious project will assist the government in achieving the objectives that have been provided to us by our constitution, by international organizations as well as fulfilling these promises for the welfare of our people.
References
1. Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission- National Health Authority- Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India- www.ndhm.gov.in
2. United Nations- Sustainable Development Goals- https://sdgs.un.org/goals
