Our healthcare ecosystem is based on global best practices and care delivery processes followed in mature healthcare markets. We are constantly upgrading and updating our technologies to extend quality healthcare, shares Shyatto Raha, Founder, and CEO of MyHealthcare in an interaction with Kaanchi Chawla of Elets News Network (ENN). Edited excerpts:

With the rise of telemedicine and remote patient monitoring, how do you see the traditional doctor-patient relationship changing, and what impact do you think this will have on the healthcare industry as a whole?

The rise of telemedicine and remote patient monitoring is undoubtedly changing the traditional doctor patient relationship. From a simple medical consultation to full-scale healthcare delivery for both acute and chronic care at home, telemedicine has grown significantly. Patients can now receive medical care without physically visiting a doctor’s office, and doctors can monitor their patient’s health remotely using various technologies. With the surge in usage of IoT devices, wearables & POCT, there is a generation of more useful and effective clinical data about patients. Healthtech start-ups that use such technology to enable continuous patient care have made it feasible for clinicians to personalise healthcare delivery.

Telemedicine has been an influencer in expanding the touchpoints of care for infants, seniors, and chronic patients, the fact that patients are now more empowered to manage their own healthcare is a significant effect of this change. They can now make more informed decisions about their health since they have easy access to their own clinical data as well as connectivity to a doctor via telemedicine at their fingertips, bringing care closer to home. Instead of receiving reactive treatment that is only given when a patient visits a hospital with a specific issue, this has resulted in a more concerted and proactive approach toward healthcare.

Furthermore, remote monitoring can aid in the early detection of potential medical problems, enabling speedier interventions thereby leading to better care. Moving away from just ‘virtual urgent care’, healthcare models now include a variety of services that enable longitudinal virtual care. Consumer convenience, accessibility, outcomes, and affordability may all be enhanced by integrating telehealth with other virtual health solutions into hybrid care models.

How is your company leveraging Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to improve healthcare outcomes, and what results have you seen so far?

The healthcare industry has long been a hotbed for AI innovation, pushing the envelope on possibilities. With the aggressive push for digitalisation in healthcare and looking at the shortage of doctors, nurses, and healthcare providers, the use of AI and ML has become a key driver in being able to deliver quality healthcare, at scale.

A significant step towards the digitisation and digitalisation of healthcare in India is the provision of MyHealthcare’s Enterprise Application (MHEA) for hospitals and healthcare organisations. Within this ecosystem, MyHealthcare uses AI and ML for a host of applications:

Speech to Text: By implementing Speech-to-Text feature in our IPD & OPD EMR applications, we are reducing the doctors’ burden by providing them the speech option to enter all the patient details like chief complaints, history of present illness, review of systems, current medications, and allergies. The time saved on data entry is used in providing quality care for the patient.

Electronic Medical Records (EMR): Extensive use of AI is done to analyse electronic health records to identify trends and make predictions about future health outcomes. Doctors get a longitudinal view of patient records through a patient journey mapping with initial symptoms, test advised, diagnosis, medications, and follow-up details, made available on a single Patient History screen. This assists clinicians to identify potential problems early and take steps to prevent them, improving overall health.

Personalised Medicine: AI helps us to analyse a patient’s medical history and other data to identify patterns and suggest personalised care plans. This helps doctors tailor treatment protocols to the specific needs of each patient, leading to better outcomes and a more satisfying experience for the patient.

With the increasing importance of data privacy and security in healthcare, what measures is your company taking to protect patient data and ensure compliance with regulations?

At MyHealthcare, we follow various methods for data privacy & protection. As a cloud-native, and mobile-first healthcare application provider, we leverage a lot of the new-age cloud modules to deliver gold-standard security to our customers.

Encryption: To protect patient data, we use Data-at-Rest and Data-in-Motion Encryption which is one of the most effective ways to protect it from unauthorised access. Encryption involves a mathematical algorithm which helps to transform the data into a scrambled, unreadable form that can only be decrypted using a secret key. This makes it much more difficult for attackers to access or steal the data.

Access control: Our ecosystem has implemented strict access control measures as another important step in protecting patient data. Access control defines who is allowed to access which data and under what conditions This can be done using a variety of techniques, such as isolation, authentication, and authorisation, to ensure that only authorised users can access the data.

Regularly updating the software and security patches: Keeping software and security patches up to date is very critical for preventing attackers from exploiting vulnerabilities in the system. We ensure that all software and security patches are installed promptly to protect against the latest threats.

Security audits: Conducting regular security audits is another important measure that we use to ensure the privacy and security of patient data. Security audits involve reviewing the system and its security controls to identify potential vulnerabilities and weaknesses. By doing this regularly, it is possible to detect and fix any issues that can be exploited by attackers.

Regular backups: Regular backups of patient data is essential for protecting it in case of a disaster or data loss. By making multiple copies of the data and storing them in different locations, it is possible to recover the data in case it gets lost or corrupted.

Train employees on security: Employees are often the weakest link in an organisation’s security and educating them on security best practices helps prevent attackers from gaining access to the system through social engineering or other means. We provide regular training to our client’s employees on security and encourage them to report any suspicious activity.

With the rapid pace of technological change, how do you ensure that your company stays at the forefront of healthcare innovation and continues to deliver value to its customers?

Our healthcare ecosystem is based on global best practices and care delivery processes followed in mature healthcare markets. We are constantly upgrading and updating our technologies to extend quality healthcare.

The MHEA ecosystem is a task based healthcare information management system, with a highly configurable workflow engine enabling physicians and hospital teams to manage complete patient care and hospital operations.

We launched one of India’s first single-screen EMRs, a system that allows doctors, and clinicians to enter all medical records of a patient encounter on a single screen. The Single Screen EMR has been built with a high level of configuration that allows doctors to design their own process workflows while treating patients in multiple scenarios be it in an OPD or virtually.

MyHealthcare single-screen EMR has a built-in CDSS (Clinical Decision Support System) which assists clinicians in providing standardised treatments and protocols. The system aims to help doctors experience a more efficient and effective approach to delivering value-based care by offering an EMR platform that promises fewer clicks, faster workflows, and the ability to truly work on one screen.

We are working towards leveraging AI for Predictive Analytics to analyse large amounts of anonymised patient data to identify trends and make predictions about future health outcomes. This will eventually enable our healthcare providers to identify potential problems early on and take steps to prevent them, in turn improving overall patient health and reducing healthcare costs.

How do you see healthcare technology and innovation improving healthcare access and affordability, particularly for underserved communities?

In recent times, India’s population that resides in rural India has access to only 30 per cent of the total available health infrastructure. The major concern has been the lack of talent and the availability of medical resources in these communities. Due to poor access, patients tend to delay routine check-ups or avoid treatment, resulting in the late detection of health conditions or no treatment in the early stages.

Right now as a sector, a major focus should be to reach these rural areas and give them access to quality healthcare via telemedicine/telehealth solutions such as the e-Sanjeevani OPD initiative by the Government. What is also crucial for underserved communities is maintaining a centralised patient record system in order to prevent and lower the chances of medical error during care delivery.

MyHealthcare works with hospitals, doctors, caregivers and enhances the patient care continuum processes. Our core focus is to bridge the healthcare delivery gap using data-driven care processes. As a service offering MyHealthcare is designed to assist hospitals and clinics in building out their patient engagement and scaling their digital healthcare roadmap.

Finally, what advice would you give to entrepreneurs looking to enter the healthcare technology space, and what do you see as the key trends and opportunities in this field in the coming years?

For entrepreneurs looking to enter the healthcare technology space, my advice would be to focus on solving real problems that exist within the healthcare industry. The intent of technology in healthcare is never to replace caregivers but to identify areas where there are unmet needs or inefficiencies that technology can address. This can help ensure that your technology is designed to be more cost effective and is more likely to be adopted. The healthcare industry is rapidly changing, and in the coming years, there will be a lot of technological innovations. Some of the opportunities in the store would be.

Invest in digital health: There are a variety of digital health solutions that have the potential to revolutionise the healthcare industry. Investing in digital health tools such as telemedicine, remote monitoring, and Artificial Intelligence can help to improve the quality of care and reduce healthcare costs.

Leverage the power of data: Healthcare organisations have access to immense amounts of data. Leveraging this data to gain insights into patient outcomes, cost savings, and effectiveness of treatments can provide valuable information to inform future decisions and better patient outcomes.

Utilise emerging technologies: Technologies such as blockchain, augmented reality, and machine learning can be used to create innovative solutions to improve healthcare delivery

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