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Indian home healthcare sector needs regulatory & governance impetus for better growth: Nathealth study
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Our Bureau, New Delhi
March 31 , 2022
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The Indian home healthcare sector, a $5.4 billion market at present, would require regulatory and governance measures such as a national home care licensing standards and regulatory authority, making accreditation standards mandatory for home care, recognition of home care workers and professionals as allied and healthcare professionals and others, to grow better in future, says the healthcare services industry.
A latest study on India Home Healthcare 2.0 - Redefining the Modern Care Continuum, from the Healthcare Federation of India (Nathealth), called the government to act towards creating a regulatory ecosystem where mandatory registration and licensing for home care providers similar to hospitals in Clinical Establishments Act, 2010, to establish minimum standards for home care providers and streamlining and standardising care delivery.
Standards should be set for infrastructure requirements such as care provision, home modifications, equipment, patient transfer facilities, workforce credentials and privileges, workforce ratios and mandates for operational parameters and equipment standards.
The government should also take steps to integrate medical care delivered outside institutions with institutional care by defining care pathways and integration criteria, and clinical care standards. Accreditation standards should be set as it is mandatory for insurance, public reimbursement, and government initiatives and schemes. The sector should be added to the National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions Act, 2021 and standardised training and curriculum for home care personnel should be created.
There should also be a licensing and registration of home care personnel similar to other skilled medical professionals with periodic renewal mechanisms. A National Home Care Licensing Standard should be made mandatory and standard treatment guidelines based on international protocols such as NICE and Japanese guidelines should be set, it added. Innovative insurance products providing cost benefits to health seekers and volume benefits to the provider should be provided through policy and regulatory measures.
The government could also think about business financing enablers including ten-year tax holiday for new entrants, tax breaks to incentivise care delivery in semi-urban and rural areas and GST benefits as laid out for institutional healthcare providers. Digital infrastructure support for care delivery, environmental support for innovations and entrepreneurs in the space are the other requirements for the growth of the industry, it said.
“Growing at 19% compound annual growth rate, the Indian home healthcare market is expected to grow ~2.5 times by 2025... This segment is expected to grow to a US$ 19.9 billion market by 2025,” said the study.
The market has the potential to grow an additional $5 billion with the right impetus including value unlocking across digital, scope of services, and geography, will further increase the market size in the next two to four years.
Healthcare systems worldwide are adopting digital innovation to create seamless and boundaryless care delivery modalities. From symptom checkers to 360 degree 24*7 remote patient monitoring, digitalisation is enabling the metamorphosis of care delivery from being “Reactive” to “Proactive.” Indian home healthcare is currently in the early stage of digital adoption and technology integration.
There has been a major expansion in the scope of at- home services, from acute and episodic care to long-term and chronic disease management across clinical specialties. Home-based preventive and promotive care can now be supported by a tech-enabled smart home environment.
India is currently in a state of rapid urbanization. This has led to the rapid development of infrastructure and facilities as a part of the country’s smart cities initiative across 100 cities and towns. The initiative focuses on the development of health, housing, water supply, sanitation, electricity supply, education, mobility, safety and security, IT connectivity, and digitalisation, while maintaining a sustainable environmental balance & strengthening urban governance. These selected cities alone are home to over 130 million citizens, thereby creating a huge opportunity to target this extended base.
A significant consumer mind shift is being witnessed in recent years and around 21.5 million Covid-19 patients were treated at home and 93 per cent of the Covid-19 patients recovered utilising home care support. The expected increase in the aging population in the country will also help the growth of the home care sector.
Currently, Indian home healthcare constitutes approximately 3.6% of the total healthcare expenditure as compared to the approximate 8.3% in developed countries.12 insurers showing inclination towards and IRDAI’s nod on allowing coverage of home care services14 as an add-on to existing or new policies will drive the adoption even faster. These drivers together are presenting a significant impetus for growth in the near future, particularly when the organized home care segment is growing at a CAGR of 40 per cent, it added.
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