“The Greatest Wealth is Health.”  - Unknown

The above quoted 5 words are said by an unknown person, which can be readily used to identify an industry which is becoming expansive and evolving rapidly.

Two words, Healthcare and Management, put together to form a perfectly concocted mix of Health Care Management System – which has conveniently possible and more accessible, the interaction between medical professionals and management professionals. HCMS (Health Care Management System) has successfully integrated Healthcare, Business management and Information systems.

As the healthcare delivery system is held to greater accountability, healthcare providers and entities must demonstrate quality outcomes, fiscal responsibility, and efficient and effective practices. In this regard, health management systems professionals collect and analyze data, incorporate innovative management techniques, and utilize new technologies to re-engineer healthcare.

Health management system professionals are the inventors, innovators, and entrepreneurs for the constantly evolving healthcare delivery system.

Connected and Process Driven Care

So far, 2017 has been big in Healthcare. The US President Donald J Trump created significant uncertainty about the future of the ACA (Affordable Care Act). Zika virus was fiercely debated. Telemedicine became accessible. Smartphones and medical apps offered tremendous help in interactions between medical facilities. Wearables and IoT enabled managing the health without setting foot in Doctor’s office. The king of the digital world, Big Data made its presence felt with reference to artificial intelligence.

Today, the term “Healthcare” has extended far beyond the realm of hospitals, with the integration of other sectors that provide goods and services pertinent to corrective, pre-emptive, curative and rehabilitative care. Many in the healthcare industry are convinced that integrating health insurance with actual health care delivery is the bigger disruptive influence of the road ahead. Hence, pure play insurance players like Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI) have announced plans to exit their “wholly owned and nationally driven” insurance business. Tenet Healthcare, WellStar Health and Piedmont Healthcare are also exiting the health insurance market.

“It’s tough in the health plan business. You lose money. You make mistakes. You plod forward. It takes cash” - Dean Swindle, CFO and President of Enterprise Business Lines for CHI.

Today’s health care management needs to be revamped. The classic top-down model does not empower frontline workers to identify and solve problems. It must be replaced by a model that supports and encourages frontline workers to do just that.

CEO of the Theda Care Centre for Healthcare Value goes on to say,

“What I’ve learned is that effective management cedes control to frontline workers (physicians, nurses, technicians, and others) so that they can identify and solve problems in real time. That means fixing defects as soon as they are identified, not subjecting them to the protracted analyses of top-down committees. And it means empowering people to define value from the patient perspective.”

The Indian HCMS with its broad field and scope is emerging as a top performer in the global platform for its facilities and services offered. It encompasses a broad field of hospitals, clinical trials, medical devices, medical equipment, telemedicine, health insurance, clinical tests, therapies, treatment providers and medical tourism. Furthermore, India is cost effective compared to its peers; the cost of surgery in India is about 1/10^th of that in the US or Western Europe. India’s large pool of well-trained medical professionals give it a competitive edge like no other.

Growth of Healthcare Industry 

The past decade has seen the healthcare industry in India witnessing a tremendous pace of growth, owing to the increasing expenditure and coverage by both public as well as private players. As of 2014, the Indian Healthcare sector was the sixth largest global market in terms of size, and Healthcare has become one of India's largest sectors both in terms of revenue & employment. The market size of the Indian Healthcare sector is worth around $100 billion in the current year (2017), which is further expected to reach a staggering $280 billion by 2020.

This fast-paced growth will certainly enhance the scope of healthcare services in India and will favourably bring in ample opportunities for development in the years ahead, owing to the country’s well trained medical professionals, competitive costs, and high-end diagnostic services.

There are several social and economic factors that are contributing to the growth of the Indian healthcare industry today. The demand for superior healthcare facilities, change in health policies and national programs, aging population, and the growing consciousness towards preventive healthcare are the major contributing factors towards the expansion of the healthcare industry.

Additionally, the existing lifestyle diseases, rising income levels, and increasing access to health insurance have further notched the role of healthcare services in today’s life, thereby catapulting the growth of the industry.

Bottom line…

Healthcare organizations are complex and dynamic. Though the public-sector healthcare organizations are gradually bringing the focus towards improving the facilities, the private sector players with their largest investments, skilled medical professionals and state-of-the-art diagnostic facilities have become the strongest force to be reckoned with, in contributing to the development of the healthcare industry. Thus, the growth and development of the industry has led to substantial revenue generation, new opportunities, and possibilities of employment.