Adrienne Mendenhall, ACCESS Health Southeast Asia Director of Business Development and Krishna Thacker, Director – Asia Region, MetLife Foundation were invited to speak on MoneyFM 89.3 on Sunday at 9:30am SGT to talk about Fintech for Health. They covered why MetLife Foundation and ACCESS Health International are working together and the opportunities for digital financial services in the healthcare sector. Please click here to listen to the audio.
Fintech for Health Whitepaper: Breaking the Health-Poverty trap
Every year, one-third of all new cases of poverty in Southeast Asia are due to healthcare costs. In South Asia alone, 64.8% of the total health expenditure is attributed to out-of-pocket healthcare payments. While Universal Health Coverage is the ideal state of paying for and guaranteeing care, it is not feasible for many countries in the short-term. Financial services has been playing an increasingly bigger role in addressing out-of-pocket costs through innovative business models and new technologies that eliminate inefficiencies and improve access to high-quality healthcare. Since Fintech for Health was first conceptualized in 2017, ACCESS Health International has been bringing together the right people to address these issues. We are active in six different countries in Asia and have brokered countless conversations and partnerships geared towards addressing the healthcare financing challenges low- and middle-income populations face. In our first Fintech for Health publication with MetLife Foundation, we share three key takeaways on why Fintech for Health is urgently needed to address the healthcare financing challenges in Asia: Health financing must be patient-centred. This is a call to bring sectors together. The best solutions will be bundled, integrated, and comprehensive. Please click here to view the paper.
ACCESS Health International Launches 2021 Accelerator Program
Healthcare is expensive and ASEAN countries are facing an unprecedented rise in healthcare costs in the coming decade - factors include growing elderly population, high smoking, and obesity. The total healthcare spending could accelerate to USD 740 billion from the current USD 420 billion, by 2025. Innovation is the need of the hour! One of the key drivers of innovation is the converging of different industries and hence we focused the Accelerator program on converging digital health and fintech. With this vision, we launched the accelerator program and are happy to announce the program’s successful completion with Pitch Day. Please click here to watch the recording.
ASK Health participates in the 2nd JD-PharmExpo
The 2nd JD-PharmExpo (hereinafter known as the “Expo”) was successfully held from April 15th and April 16th. With the theme of "openness, sharing, and within access", the Expo is committed to promote profound reform in the pharmaceutical industry, and to facilitate the digital transformation of traditional pharmaceutical companies. ASK Health is honored to support this online pharmaceutical expo for a second time. Dr. Chang Liu, Regional Director of ASK Health Greater China and Southeast Asia, moderated and led the roundtable discussion titled "Digital Transformation and Channel Innovation to Develop the Pharmaceutical Industry". According to Dr. Liu, it was a great honor for him to learn how the roundtable participants view the health system reform, and to discuss with industry leaders the opportunities and innovations in the digital transformation of pharmaceutical industry.
ASK Health releases report on the use of financial technologies in healthcare in China
With the support of Sanofi (China), Merck Investment (China) Co., Ltd. and RGAX, ASK Health and the team from Fudan University Healthcare and Finance Research Institute conducted a joint research study. The teams worked closely with policy experts, research scholars, associations and industry representatives, from home and abroad, to deepen their understanding of the various applications of financial technologies in healthcare. Together with industry and think tank partners, the research team released a report entitled Technology Helps to Build the Medical Security System: China’s Health Industry Practices and Universal Health Coverage (hereinafter referred to as the "report") at the 4th Annual International Healthcare and Finance Forum held on April 22-23, 2021. The report shares and promotes the future development of financial technologies in healthcare. Taking the unique opportunities in financial technologies and its applications in China as an example, the report analyzes the key elements that financial technologies add value to the medical security system, and the development and challenges for the model of integrating health and financial technologies, as well as an outlook on the development path of the applications of financial technologies in the country. At the same time, the report gives case studies on how other countries have used financial technologies to address issues such as limited financing channels for healthcare, expensive healthcare services, and quality gap of medical treatments, all of which provide a reference for China's policy and industry development and helps reduce medical expenses at source to promote the value-based transformation of the medical security system.
ASK Health releases new report on Charitable Donations and Mutual Aid in Healthcare
With the support of Pfizer China and Takeda China, ASK Health, adhering to the vision of providing everyone with access to high-quality and affordable medical services, conducted an in-depth study on "charitable donations and mutual aid" in 2020. Together with industry and think tank partners, we released a report titled Supplementary Form of Medical Security-Charitable Donations and Mutual Aid in Healthcare: Improve the Multi-level Medical Security System that reflects our latest research outcomes. The report aims to further promote the development of charitable donations and mutual aid in China. The report reviews the development history of the medical security system, charitable donations and mutual aid in healthcare area in China, gives an in-depth analysis on the status quo, and puts forward the corresponding policy and industry development suggestions. Charitable assistance and mutual aid in healthcare is an important part of the national medical security system. Thus, there is an urgent need to accelerate the development of relevant model innovation, government supervision, and public-private sector collaboration, to accelerate the progress in poverty alleviation and stably develop the medical security system in China.
Covid-19 cases spiral out of control as India’s health system cracks under the pressure
Dr. Krishna Reddy, Regional Director of South Asia at ACCESS Health International has written an analysis of the devastating Covid-19 surge in India, discussing the vulnerabilities of India’s health systems and what reforms are needed to contain the pandemic. More of Dr. Reddy’s insights can be viewed at the InOrder website. The Covid-19 pandemic is spreading through the country like a wild forest fire. The pace of transmission has left scientists, medical community, and governments flummoxed and constantly looking for answers. The World Health Organization stated last week that one in every three new Covid-19 cases globally is now being reported in India.1The week ending May 3 marked themost fatal week of the Covid-19 pandemicin India so far, with a recorded 26.46 lakh new cases and over 24,000 deaths.2Even as the daily infection numbers registered a slight drop after hitting a high of over 4 lakh on April 30, India's second wave of Covid-19 infections is showing no promising signs of slowing down. The total tally of Covid-19 cases in India currently stands at over 20 million cases of which17 percent are currently active, 82 percent are recoveries and 1.10 percent have resulted in death.3Nearly seven million cases were reported in April, a big share of the total cases India has recorded since the start of the pandemic last year.3 With the sudden exponential surge in cases, the country's overwhelmed healthcare system is faced with supply shortages for hospital beds, oxygen, medicines, vaccines and healthcare workers. Cases in the second wave started rising in February, when India was reporting an average of about 10,000 infections a day. But the situation progressively worsened in April, ending the month by repeatedly setting new national and global records for daily cases. Even though the death rate is comparatively low in India, an underreporting and undercounting of deaths is not entirelyunlikely. This can be construed fromseveral media reports that highlight the overcrowding at crematoriums and burial grounds with bodies of Covid-19 deceased. The research community is now trying to understand the reasons behind the extraordinary surge. Many experts believe that the second wave is a result of a combination of several factors, including the rise and spread of infectious variants, mass gatherings for political rallies and religious events, increased unrestricted social interactions, a lax attitude among people, non-adherence to Covid appropriate behaviour, and the low vaccination coverage. Unravelling the causes has the potential to guide governments across the world facing similar rise in infection rates. There has also been data showing a direct positive correlation between population density and the number of Covid-19-affected persons. For example, in recent times, no big festivals or political events took place in Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Delhi. Yet, in terms of Covid-19 caseload, as of April 26, 2021, these three cities contributed the most. The second wave is also seeing infection rates rising in smaller cities and towns. According to The Lancet, preliminary analysis indicates that the second wave has spread with a deeper penetration into tier 2 and tier 3 cities.5This indicates that even as political and religious gatherings are partly driving the surge, a lack of awareness and people's indifference towards complying with Covid-19 safety and hygiene norms are contributing to the rising number of cases. The last couple of months have been marked by the emergence of at least two important dominant variants, one is a U.K. variant, one is an Indian variant. The Indian government reportedly said last month that 80 percent of cases in Punjab were due to the highly contagious U.K. variant, which is known as B.1.1.7. Meanwhile, the Indian variant is known as B.1.617 and has multiple sub-lineages with slightly different characteristic mutations. This has become dominant in the state of Maharashtra which is recording the highest number of cases among all states. The WHO classified it as a variant of interest in its epidemiological update on the pandemic last month. Both these variants are linked to increased transmissibility and an ability to evade immune protection in the population. Shortage of oxygen, beds, and other medical supplies As Covid-19 positive cases started to spiral out of control, health infrastructure in several parts of the country, especially cities, cracked under the sudden pressure. State governments have been struggling to set up new infrastructure to meet this exponential demand. Several announcements are now being made about the construction of new health facilities and oxygen plants. The most acute crisis in the country currently is a shortage of oxygen in hospitals. Inadequate oxygen-supported beds, ICU beds, ventilators and medical oxygen has severely affected hospitals in many cities in their fight to save patients. Indian social media is flooded with desperate requests from people all over the country, seeking help to get oxygen cylinders or hospital beds with oxygen or ventilators for their dear ones. In the recent weeks,many hospitals across the country have reported deaths owing to depletion of oxygen and unavailability of timely replenishment. 7 According to the World Health Organization, around 15 percent of Covid-19 patients suffer from breathlessness. However, at present, the daily supply of oxygen is proving to be inadequate for India. India's daily production capacity for oxygen is 7127 metric tonnes and consumption is 3842 metric tonnes, according to Indian Government data released in early April. However a few days later, Max Hospital, a private hospital, approached a Delhi court to inform them about an oxygen shortage at their facility. During the hearing, the government is reported to have told the court that India's oxygen consumption was over 8000 metric tonnes per day by April 21.5 A lot of the current demand is being met by the private sector including volunteer groups and unfortunately even the black market. The latter is selling oxygen to needy patients at up to ten times it original price. India ramped up its health infrastructure during the first wave last year. The reason why India is facing an acute shortage today despite this is that as cases started decreasing after the September peak last year, the pace […]
ACCESS Health Digital’s report provides valuable recommendations for the digital healthcare ecosystem in India
With a vision to make an impactful advancement in the provider ecosystem, ACCESS Health International has released an exhaustive report titled 'Healthcare Industry - Provider Working Group Consultation & Recommendations' to discuss and develop a majority agreement towards the exchange of health information in standardized formats towards fostering a digital healthcare ecosystem in India. The report was released last month and can be accessed here. ACCESS Health Digital in India had formed three healthcare providers working groups towards the report. The objective of these working groups was to reach a majority-based agreement on sector-specific interoperability standards and present the results to the National Digital Health Mission [NDHM] for implementation and adoption of the National Digital Health Blueprint [NDHB] and thus creation of National Digital Health Ecosystem [NDHE]. After numerous, successful deliberations, ACCESS Health Digital compiled the final recommendations of these working groups, into the report. The provider side working groups were convened by ACCESS Health Digital to achieve consensus on the foundational elements of such an eco-system and elicit what the industry players feel would contribute to a system that can meet the national policy goals in line with the universally accepted sustainable development goals framework.
InOrder Institute and ACCESS Health International to partner with ASCI to host two certificate courses on health insurance & health informatics
The Administrative Staff College of India, [ASCI], Hyderabad, in collaboration with ACCESS Health International & Affordable Quality Health's InOrder Insitute, will start two certificate courses on Health Insurance and Health Informatics for health system managers. The course will be for a duration of six months and will start from September 2021. The courses are designed for health professionals, health administrators, and health system managers, who need to or want to participate in the health IT/informatics process. Health Insurance Training Program is a system of assurance to meet the contingencies of health care expenses. The important objective of health insurance is to provide protection against financial losses caused by unforeseen health problems and at the same time relieve anxiety with regard to healthcare costs. It is, therefore, important to improve the outreach and coverage of healthcare insurance in the county and this requires a huge number of trained professionals to meet the demand of the insurance sector. ASCI, Hyderabad, Telangana is an old and reputed institute, established in 1956 and is approved by AICTE. The College offers a PGDM program in six specializations and a PGDHM program in Hospital Management.
Head of Alliances and Partnerships Dr. Uma Aysola Elected Vice Chair to CII-IWN Telangana
Dr. Uma Aysola, Head of Alliances and Partnerships at ACCESS Health India, has been elected vice chairperson to the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII)-Indian Women Network (IWN) Telangana for the year 2021-22. Dr. Aysola is responsible for partnerships and relationship management with key government functionaries, foundations, technical institutions, and industry bodies and the corporate sector. Over the years, Dr. Aysola has been a member of the Core Council and Health & Wellbeing and Mentorship verticals at CII IWN in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The Indian Women Network is the women's arm of the CII, with a vision to be the largest network for the women workforce. It was formed to provide a structured network for women to meet and encourage discussions among likeminded men and women to overcome challenges that they face at the workplace. IWN is present in five regions with six zones and twenty state chapters. In her illustrious career spanning over thirty years, Dr. Aysola has held several notable positions within the healthcare sector. She has previously worked at the Indian Institute of Public Health, PHFI as Program Deputy Director and Athena Energy Ventures as Head Health and CSR. She has also been a Lead Partner at the Emergency Management and Research Institute (EMRI). She commenced her career as a part of the founding team at LVP Eye Institute (LVPEI ) and is recognized for changing the fragmented diagnostic industry as the CEO of Elbit Medical Diagnostics Ltd. Amongst other roles she is a mentor for the Atal Incubation Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology. As part of her role at ACCESS Health, Ms. Aysola engages with state and central governments, foundations — national and international, industry bodies, multinational companies, and technical institutions to mobilize resources and promote collaborations with ACCESS Health to support its overall vision of strengthening systems to secure health. She is also a part of the founding team of the InOrder Institute, an associate of ACCESS Health International.