Rahul is an MBA from Xavier Institute of Management (XIMB) with over 5 years of experience in driving performance and growth metrics across verticals and industries. He has worked across FMCG, Food-Technology & Healthcare organizations at various stages of their respective life cycles. The ability to understand consumer behaviour and set up synchronous operations is one of his core strengths’ which helps him deliver positive outcomes.
Transition care facility is a relatively new concept in India but is being practiced since more than 10-12 years in USA and European nations.
Transition care is the systematic rehabilitation option that is offered to individuals recovering from critical illness through a multidisciplinary collaboration of a team of doctors, skilled nurses and therapists. The transition care provides protocol-based treatment in a home-like environment for enhanced and empowered recovery.
Clinical results prove patients undergoing transition care show improved independence and functional outcomes with reduced post OP complications & readmissions and overall enhanced quality of life.
Without transition care, there is an estimation that patients have a 30 percent higher chance of mortality or hospital readmission due to re-infections or disease recurrence. Atleast 40 percent higher chances are there to catch preventable long-term disability as well if better transition care is not provided on time. More than half of transition care users are discharged to home and remain at home after 6 months. These observations are consistent with the observations made worldwide in multiple studies conducted across developed economies like USA, Europe and Australia.
The transition care includes care for individuals requiring neuro-rehabilitation, palliative care as in end stage cancer patients, or in progressive diseases where the care for patient is difficult at home.
The COVID-19 pandemic acted as a catalyst in establishing this sector of healthcare – homecare where the patients were provided with proper nursing care along with monitoring and medical help as and when they required. But the homecare lacks the educational training and on-site support of skilled nursing facilities to ensure vulnerable patients receive appropriate follow-up. It also lacks the affiliation to a hospital which have the advantage of joint case management and better outcomes for patients. The increased use of homecare/transition care has also helped proper use of critical care facilities at hospitals during this pandemic.
Evidence indicates India has the huge market potential for transition care with an estimated market size value of around 1.49 billion dollars. With the growing population, rising urbanization and increasing life expectancy, there is also a rise in cardio vascular diseases, neurological disorders like parkinsons/ alzheimers, major small and large bowel procedure, orthopedic procedures of lower extremities, moderate to severe functional impairment, etc. there is immense scope for enhancing healthcare services in India, and thus presenting ample opportunity for development of the transition care industry.
The factors that are in favour of good future of transition care in India include –
1) Lack of trained medical personnel
2) Growing nuclear family setup which adds to the existing sub-optimal support from the family
3) Non-Local Patients requiring good quality healthcare
4) Growing Medical Tourism in India which is expected to grow even further (9-10 bn by 2025)
5) Low insurance penetration in India, hence, most of the expenditure is paid as out-of-pocket expenses, making services in healthcare very expensive.
While transition care category is an emerging segment, but, inpatient rehabilitation care providers charge only one-tenth of the hospital costs and one-third of the critical care costs, making it a more practical and realistic option for the Indian healthcare consumer.
Every year India attracts more than 4 lakhs medical tourists from around the world and this number is expected to increase by 6 times, i.e., 25-30 lakhs by 2025.
In the absence of transition care facilities, patients always tend to seek advanced care that will be compelled to bear the high costs of hospitals. The absence of transition care also could lead to inefficient utilization of critical care facilities at hospitals, escalated hospital expenditure for patients and putting them at the risk of hospital-acquired infections.
Transition care in India is a need to address the growing demand for quality healthcare and changing social fabric, for eg. These facilities can be beneficial to those parents whose children have settled abroad and are unable to stay for a long time in India and want quality healthcare for their families.
While opportunities are booming across all sectors of healthcare, the patient is undoubtedly going to play the most integral role of driving the future of the industry. As the ups and downs of the whole sector revolve around the holistic wellness of the individual, single specialty players have started to flourish like never before.
There is a need for future proofing our country as the need for better healthcare is rising and the transition care can be an opportunity to fill the unmet need and create a new facet of holistic healthcare