Digital transformation in the healthcare sector

In a free-wheeling interview with Medical Equipment and Automation editorial team, Ashvini Danigond, Executive Director & CEO, Manorama Infosolution PVT LTD., shares her perspective on, digital healthcare solution and processes and technologies used by Manorama Infosolution to streamline the clinical workflows...

What is your perspective about healthcare-digital solutions, and how do you envision its growth in future? 

The Healthcare space is at the cusp of a digital transformation, especially in emerging and growth markets. The wide use of technology has enabled and empowered various industries to make the most of this opportunity for better care, efficient and effective delivery. For example, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) in the healthcare industry will continue to grow exponentially. As per an estimation, the usage of AI in healthcare is expected to grow from 1.3 billion in 2018 to 13 billion in 2025, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 47. 7%. We believe AI, ML and analytics are necessary for the healthcare industry considering the demand and supply for healthcare workers in the future. McKinsey shares that venture capital funding for the top 50 firms in healthcare-related AI had already reached US $8.5 billion by January 2020. Manorama Infosolutions Pvt Ltd (MIPL) sees an AI-enabled Digital Healthcare future that is quite bright for delivering better healthcare and making affordable healthcare a reality.

With your experience for two decades in the digital healthcare space, what scope do you oversee for digital transformation in the health-tech segment?

With MIPL’s expertise & experience in Nationwide Digital Healthcare Platforms and the Indian government’s intent & support to use digitalization as means to improve healthcare delivery, MIPL’s Digital healthcare solutions have put forth an approach that will enable Indian healthcare leapfrog to be a state-of-the-art, world-class healthcare information and communications technology (ICT) system.

The program is bound together by innovation and cutting edge technologies such as AI, Blockchain for leveraging protecting data and efficient way for an end-to-end care delivery platform from a perspective of the patient, provider and other supporting pillars of the healthcare echo system.

The National Digital Healthcare Platform includes the following:

Hospital Information Management System (HIMS): An enterprise-wide solution that is the heart of all measuring, monitoring and allowing interventions for all healthcare services with Health Information Exchange (HIE).

Health Insurance: The underpinning financial systems that regulate coverage, delivery of care and management of claims and payments, compliant with Universal Health Coverage (UHC).

Electronic Medical Records (EMRs): Crafted as per policies essential for measuring treatment outcomes. Introduction of Blockchain EMR for seamless and secure patient-physician interactions.

Health Information Exchange (HIE): A key component of the entire solution that enables clinical information to be exchanged between multiple, different health information systems belonging to various providers, yet patient data is seamlessly exchanged for patient belonging to these federated information systems like HIMS, EMRs, etc.

Telemedicine: It connects doctors at the main centres with built-in video-conferencing to provide an online opinion, diagnosis and treatment to the patients in remote locations in real-time. Deployment of AI agents for fraud prevention and fraud detection in Insurance, population health management, training of caregivers and personalised healthcare management. Deployment of Blockchain for ensuring the integrity of healthcare data across the PHR utilisation spectrum. It helps in the improvement and authentication of health records and protocols on record sharing.

The company initiatives to use technology have paved a new way for future healthcare needs by incorporating AI, ML and analytics into their solutions. In all these years, among the various technological innovations that MIPL has actively deployed include AI agents for EMRs, Blockchain for Data security and applications including personal health record (PHR), and bespoke healthcare Internet of Things (IoT). AI and ML along with technology allow MIPL to solve the toughest problem the world is facing today.

The forthcoming implementations of MIPL Digital Healthcare Solutions will enable additional 35 million-plus annual patient/ physician interactions, regional disease patterns, 25-plus speciality procedures and 1,000-plus disease types.

Tell us in brief about your company and its involvement in meeting digital solutions for various healthcare and automation projects.

With a strength of 350-plus employees, MIPL has been instrumental in reaching out to 1,600-plus customers serviced across 2 continents. The company has to credit 27 million-plus patient-physician interactions facilitated annually. Headquartered in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, MIPL has five offices, making it a true partner providing reach and skills to solve some of the toughest problems in the healthcare space today.

MIPL’s understanding of healthcare is best demonstrated through the broad-spectrum of clients, which include government, private, public sector hospitals, multi super-speciality hospitals, a chain of hospitals (private/government/public sector) with bed-size of more than 12,000 beds in a single enterprise, public health (including a solution for Primary & Community Healthcare Centres, and Healthcare workers delivering last-mile care), healthcare delivery units in Urban Local Bodies and Smart Cities, among others.

How would you define clinical workflows from your company’s viewpoint? Could you detail us about processes and technologies to streamline the clinical workflows?

After all, healthcare is about workflows. As a provider of cutting-edge technology, we aim to enable efficient delivery of care at the right place at the right time with the highest quality standards. Today, MIPL’s Digital healthcare solutions are incorporating global standards like ICD, SNOMED-CT, LOINC, CPT and many more that give us the ability to deliver standard-based clinical workflows according to care areas where our solutions are used. Our solutions adherence to global clinical and technological standards, giving us the inherent ability of scalability and interoperability, which have now become more relevant in data-driven clinical practice. Technology is evolving at a very rapid pace, and the healthcare space is no exception. Open-source technologies, microservices architecture being adopted in today’s platforms to bring scalability, speed, and security along with reliability for healthcare platforms. Exchanging clinical information with other information systems security is the key, and that is where our compliance to global integration standards like HL7, DICOM and HIPPA help our customers achieve digital clinical information exchange seamlessly.

Could you elaborate on large scale health care program in smart cities and other international healthcare ecosystems?

MIPL’s Digital Healthcare Solutions are selected for three Smart City projects in India, which includes Dahod and Vadodara in Gujarat and Bhubaneswar in Odisha, that are using the Lifeline Smart City Suite of Solutions. The company has undertaken various initiatives as part of this plan. For example, in Vadodara Smart City, 250-plus health workers (ANM and ASHA) are using our public health app in 34 urban PHC, which are integrated with multiple external health systems. It offers inbuilt disease surveillance and immunization management control. Similarly, in Dahod Smart City, MIPL has initiated Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) and telemedicine under Integrated Command and Control Centre and Smart Solutions. Plans are afoot to install a telemedicine system at multispecialty hospitals. On the other hand, as part of the Bhubaneswar Smart City project, the company has introduced a centralized Cloud-based integrated solution for communicable and non-communicable diseases and enabled disease surveillance and population health management.

Its public health and smart city partners include prominent organisations such as Inspira, KPMG, Tech Mahindra and Honeywell, among others.

The Lifeline Smart City Suite of Solutions has expanded to international markets as well. The company is in the process of integration and implementation for International Smart City projects in East Africa and SAARC nations.

Please elaborate upon digital healthcare IT solutions with specific reference to the telemedicine platform.

MIPL’s Lifeline Telemedicine Suite provides a single platform for real-time integrated clinical workflows with audio-video capability. This solution also incorporates virtual qualitative and quantitative patient interactions via the operational and business workflows.

Our Tele-Medicine and Collaboration Platform bring patients virtually to your clinicians, helping you take clinical decisions by making assessments, which as a result improves patient outcomes by facilitating faster diagnosis.

In today’s dynamic and connected world, our clinical tools and technology help you bridge the gap between clinicians and patients, no matter they are situated.

What was MIPL’s objective for launching the COVID-19 website? What are your views about public health systems in India?

Manorama’s Lifeline Pandemic Management Suite of solutions has helped city health authorities through the lockdowns facilitating the screening and management of COVID-19 and enabling patients to connect with doctors remotely to have their diagnosis done. MIPL has successfully made critical deliveries for large and complex healthcare projects in India & across the globe during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

To cite a few examples, MIPL has successfully implemented the Pandemic Management and Lifeline Telemedicine solution for Kolhapur Collectorate, facilitating the management and treatment of COVID-19 cases.

Tell us about your penetration and involvement in projects in Asia, Middle East and Africa?

MIPL has a strong customer base in Africa, APAC nations, Middle East and India. Manorama Infosolutions’ growth drivers such as country automation, public health, smart city, pandemic management and TeleHealth has led to the business expansion in SAARC and East Africa.

Manorama’s Lifeline Suite of Solutions is selected for projects of national eminence for a SAARC and an African country and are now getting implemented at Seychelles-HIMS implementation Project for the Ministry of Health Seychelles, consisting of 16 health centres spread over three islands and one main hospital with six specialist centres. In Bhutan, a country automation project is initiated for implementing MIPL’s Digital Healthcare suite of solutions in 379 healthcare facilities on a single integrated platform.

Manorama’s Lifeline Smart City Suite of Solutions has expanded to international markets and is in the process to be integrated and implemented for International Smart City Projects. Sri Lanka, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Uganda, Nigeria, Kenya and other ASEAN, APAC and African countries prominently feature on the company’s agenda in this regard.

Could you highlight your engagement activities in various health projects and besides above anything else you would like to mention? What are your plans for the next three years?

MIPL continues to position itself as a leader in healthcare digital transformation with the use of technologies such as AI and ML. The company will continue its focus on new growth drivers, including public health, smart City, pandemic management, country automation and telehealth. As part of the smart city projects, plans are afoot to include newer cities and work in progress on those lines. We plan to expand our presence with solutions solving problems in public healthcare, building national digital healthcare platforms in India and emerging markets.

The company is working on two large public-private projects in India, which include Coal India Limited (CIL) and Steel Authority of India (SAIL).

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