Technology is rapidly changing how we go about our daily lives. It has become routine to order food, groceries and household items online vs. buying them at a supermarket or hypermarket. Online comparison of price and user reviews has become a customary feature of our big ticket item purchases (household appliances, cars etc.). We are getting used to not just products but services delivered to us at home e.g., haircuts and other salon services. Given these macro shifts in demand and consumption patterns, it is only a matter of time before we start receiving healthcare services on demand, and at our preferred location powered by the technology revolution. Here are the top 5 healthcare services that technology has enabled by offering convenience and cost-effective healthcare solutions to the masses. We believe these will become part of our everyday lives in the near future very much like online food and grocery delivery.
- Doctor discovery and appointment booking: Instead of asking family and friends for a recommendation that is often subjective, patients can now compare physician (doctor) profiles – specialization, education, conditions treated, latest treatment protocols followed and most importantly, patient reviews to find the right doctor for their needs in an objective fact-based manner. Globally players such as Zocdoc (US) and Practo (India) have built successful doctor discovery and appointment booking platforms. Within the Middle East, players such as Vezeeta (Egypt and KSA), okadoc (UAE), HeliumDoc (Qatar and UAE), and oladoc (Pakistan) are leading the charge and helping millions of users.
- Online consultations (eConsultations): Research indicates that up to 50% of physician visits can be effectively handled via e-consultations that save time and money. There is no longer a need to make expensive ER trips after regular hours for non critical episodes or navigate 30-60 mins in traffic as a default scenario to see a doctor. Most health episodes can be effectively addressed via a video call. With a rapid adoption of e-prescriptions across the GCC, getting medication from a pharmacy is also becoming convenient, and so various enablers to support e-consultations are starting to come together. Experience from other markets (such as the USA) also suggests that eConsultations can lower the cost of care by as much as 10-15%. Already, most of the large provider networks in the Middle East have started to offer eConsultations with their physicians. Also, various insurance companies are starting to offer eConsultations as a first line of defence, often free of charge, to drive adoption. We believe that this proposition will become a lot more mainstream in the coming years driven by technology led platforms (mentioned above) that have also started to offer online consultations.
- Medicine delivery on demand: With the adoption of ePrescription, pharmacies are able to receive the prescription online without requiring a physical visit to the pharmacy. Already several brick and mortar pharmacy chains have started to go digital and are encouraging users to order their medication (prescription, over-the-counter and supplements) via their own apps. However, given the physical retail footprint, users typically have to pay the same prices for their online orders as they would have in the physical stores. This is where pure online pharmacies come into play. There is a significant potential for e-pharmacies to disrupt the traditional brick and mortar players as they have a considerably lower cost of operations due to the lack of an expensive retail footprint. This allows e-pharmacies to offer 15-25% cheaper prices for the same products in addition to offering far more SKUs, thereby creating an irresistible offering for the customers. There are a few players such as 800-Pharmacy and souKare that have entered this space and more platforms are planning to enter.
- Medical tests on-demand: Lab tests (Radiology and Pathology) are one of the biggest drivers of healthcare costs and given the nature of the current healthcare ecosystem in the Middle East where these tests are often performed at the physician / provider’s premises (hospital / clinic), they tend to be quite expensive due to the vertical integration. However, now several tech enabled third party players are emerging worldwide (such as Healthians and 1mg) that are offering lab tests (pathology and radiology) at a fraction of the cost. This is an amazing value proposition not only for patients who pay out-of-pocket (uninsured patients) but also for the insured, given the convenience of giving the sample from home (for most pathology tests). In the long term, this will put pressure on the testing rates charged by hospitals and bring the pricing down for the insured patients as well.
- Home health care: This segment comprises of elderly care (trained attendants to support quality of life at home), newborn baby and mother care via specialized staff, at-home physiotherapy, nursing support, home doctor visits, medical equipment rentals / purchase etc. Traditionally these services were offered by smaller geographically localized players due to the supply and demand dynamics that were often focused on one or two of these services. However, technology has enabled aggregation of demand, creating much larger players that are now able to offer the complete portfolio of these services with better pricing and standardization of quality of care. Several early stage players have emerged in the Middle East and we are excited about their emerging growth stories.