Interview with Insights Success
Previously, Manasije was the Chief Executive Officer of Max Bupa. Under his leadership, Max Bupa witnessed exceptional growth, making it the fastest growing health insurer. Prior to this, he had a two-decade career with HSBC. He served as the Managing Director of HSBC Invest Direct and held senior positions in Strategy, Retail Banking, Operations, E-commerce, Trade Finance, Treasury and Financial Control.
Manasije is an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers, UK. He is an Economics graduate from Delhi University and an MBA from XLRI, Jamshedpur.
3) What are the challenges your company has faced on the road to success? Our biggest challenge is to change behavior. Consumers tend to ignore symptoms initially and try to selfmedicate. After the things get serious, they directly seek a specialist. Most of us do not regularly consult a family or primary care doctor. This behavior leads to higher costs and poor health outcomes. IHO is tackling this with the launch of vHealth by Aetna. Today 40 % of our patients are repeat customers. Patients realise effective consultations can happen over the phone or video. The post-consultation rating of our doctors is at 4.5 out of 5.
4) What are the benefits gained by your clients while doing business with you? Our team of doctors completed over 15,000 consults since its launch in May 2017 and we are delighted with the patient feedback. Our doctors at vHealth were able to provide the appropriate diagnosis and treatment for 70 % of the patients without referring them for physical interventions.
Several patients have commented that we have been able to identify the root cause of their long-standing medical problems. Apart from managing acute and chronic patients, we have helped to diagnose cases of hemochromatosis( iron overload), gastric cancer, triple vessel disease, nephrology, Parkinsonplus and more.
Patients were also delighted that they were able to get the undivided attention of the doctor for over 30 minutes and with our hand-holding and follow-ups consultation.
5) What would be your words of advice for the upcoming entrepreneurs? Behind any innovative solution is a consumer problem and a strong belief that this can be solved. Being a successful entrepreneur involves a series of missteps and mistakes, in seeking the right, commercially viable solution. Don’ t hesitate to experiment and fail. Entrepreneurs, who disrupt the market, are driven by passion and self-belief. They will fail fast until they hit on the solution.
6) Brief us about some of the highly acclaimed and widely accepted innovations of Indian Health Organization? 66 % of the medical expenses are related to consultations, diagnostic tests, medicines and other nonhospitalization expenses. IHO launched Classic Consultation membership, designed to meet the dayto-day outpatient medical expenses. The membership is priced at Rs. 5880 for one year for a family of four and helps people save upto 50 % on their health expenses. Since its launch in Oct 2016, IHO has enrolled over 1.5lakh members for this consultation.
The annual benefits of Classic Consultation membership include access to vHealth by Aetna, where members get unlimited teleconsultation for their family members. Members can avail free specialist consultation at top hospitals. The package also offers 2 FREE comprehensive health checkups, 2 FREE dental scaling and cleaning sittings and discounts on other day-to-day medical expenses like diagnostic tests and medicine delivery. This membership also helps its customers benefit from Tax exemption under section 80D.
7) Kindly share your views on the current industry trends? The neglect of primary care in India is one of the reasons for the increasing disease burden and medical costs. E- healthcare has the potential to make quality healthcare accessible and improve the quality of primary health care.
In the next few decades, the idea of driving to a doctor’ s clinic, waiting and physically meeting the doctor will be obsolete. Technology, including smartphones, remote sensors, connected devices, will provide access to digital primary care services. While technology can simplify access to the primary healthcare system, a critical component for success in India will be the delivery of quality care. Clinical expertise clubbed with digital technology is the game changer.
8) What can we expect from Indian Health Organization in the future? We see a great future for the digital healthcare ecosystem in India. During 2018 we expect many more families to accept vHealth by Aetna as their first port of call for any healthcare issue. By 2020, we aim to have 4 million members.
18 December 2017