As healthcare costs continue to rise and out-of-pocket expenditure remains a major barrier in India, innovative financing solutions are becoming critical to ensuring timely access to quality care. In this exclusive conversation, Gaurav Gupta, Co-Founder & CEO of CarePay, shares with Dr. Asawari Savant from Elets News Network (ENN), how fintech-driven healthcare financing, AI-powered lending and embedded financial protection are transforming patient access and reducing treatment drop-offs across India. Edited excerpts

Many patients delay or forgo treatment due to the burden of upfront medical expenses. How is CarePay addressing this challenge? 

In India, many patients delay or abandon treatment not because care is unavailable, but because they cannot arrange a large upfront payment when they need it most.

At CarePay, we are addressing this challenge by bringing instant, technology-driven healthcare financing directly to the point of care. Our platform is designed to work across a wide range of healthcare providers, from fertility and dental clinics to eye care and aesthetic centres. 

By leveraging a multi-lender ecosystem, we are able to achieve significantly higher approval rates than traditional single-lender models, ensuring more patients like self employed and those who are New-to-Credit can access financing when they need it.

We believe healthcare access should not depend on a patient’s immediate liquidity. By making treatment affordable through monthly payments and digital-first experiences, CarePay is helping unlock access to quality healthcare for families across India’s underserved and emerging markets.

What are the key trends that will shape the future of healthcare financing in India’s emerging and underserved markets over the next few years?

Healthcare financing in India is entering a transformational phase. Historically, financing was viewed as a fallback option. Over the next few years, it will increasingly become a core component of the healthcare journey itself.

One major trend will be embedded financing at the point of care. Patients will expect instant financing options to be available alongside treatment recommendations, much like EMIs are available while purchasing consumer products today.

Second, AI-led underwriting and alternative data assessment will expand financial inclusion. Millions of patients who may not qualify through conventional lending frameworks will gain access through more intelligent credit evaluation models.

Third, we expect financing and protection products to converge. Healthcare decisions involve uncertainty, especially in treatments such as IVF, where outcomes cannot be guaranteed. Patients increasingly seek not only affordability but also financial protection against adverse outcomes.

Finally, digital patient journeys will become the norm. Faster approvals, paperless onboarding, automated repayments, and integrated care financing ecosystems will significantly improve patient experience.

The future of healthcare financing is not simply about lending, it is about creating a comprehensive financial infrastructure that enables more Indians to access quality care confidently and without delay.

As healthcare costs continue to rise, how do you see embedded financing and protection solutions such as HopeGuard reshaping patient access to elective and specialized treatments over the next few years?

Rising healthcare costs are making affordability one of the biggest determinants of whether patients proceed with treatment. This is particularly true for elective and specialised care segments such as fertility, dental, aesthetics, and advanced ophthalmology, where insurance coverage remains limited.

Embedded financing has already begun changing patient behaviour by converting large one-time healthcare expenses into manageable monthly payments. However, affordability alone does not fully address patient concerns.

Many specialised treatments carry a degree of uncertainty. Patients often hesitate not only because of the cost, but because they fear paying a significant amount without certainty of the desired outcome.

This is where solutions such as HopeGuard become transformative. HopeGuard combines no-cost EMI financing with insurance-backed protection, helping reduce the financial risk associated with unsuccessful fertility treatments. By addressing both affordability and outcome-related anxiety, it creates greater confidence for patients to start treatment earlier.

Over the coming years, we expect healthcare financing to evolve from a pure payment solution into a broader patient protection ecosystem. The combination of financing and risk protection will play a crucial role in improving treatment adoption, reducing drop-offs, and making specialized healthcare more accessible to millions of Indians.

How do you see the intersection of fintech and healthcare evolving in India, particularly in specialised care segments such as fertility treatment?

Healthcare and fintech are increasingly converging around a common objective: improving access. In specialised care categories such as fertility treatment, this intersection is particularly important because patients face both high costs and significant emotional complexity.

Traditionally, financial products were developed independently from healthcare journeys. Today, technology enables financing to be embedded seamlessly into the patient experience. Patients can explore treatment options, assess eligibility, receive approvals, and complete financing within minutes.

In fertility care specifically, we believe the future extends beyond financing. Patients need solutions that address affordability, confidence, and protection simultaneously. Products such as HopeGuard represent this evolution by combining financing with outcome-linked protection.

Ultimately, fintech’s role in healthcare will move from being a transaction enabler to becoming an integral component of patient access and engagement. The winners in this space will be organizations that combine technology, financing, and patient-centric design to remove barriers throughout the healthcare journey.

Beyond HopeGuard, what are CarePay’s key priorities for expanding access to healthcare through financial innovation?

Our mission at CarePay is to ensure that financial constraints never become a reason for patients to delay or abandon necessary healthcare. While HopeGuard is an important innovation within fertility care, our vision extends much further.

One of our primary priorities is expanding healthcare financing across additional treatment categories where affordability remains a major barrier. This includes dental care, ophthalmology, aesthetics, wellness, fertility, and other elective healthcare segments.

We are also investing heavily in AI-driven decisioning and patient engagement through Careena AI – our in-house Care Engagement Assistant. Our goal is to create the fastest and most inclusive financing experience possible, enabling more patients to access credit with minimal friction.

We also aim to deepen our partnerships with healthcare providers across India, particularly in Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets. By embedding financing directly within the care journey, we can help clinics improve patient conversion while simultaneously expanding access to treatment for underserved populations.

How far do you think innovative healthcare financing solutions reduce India’s treatment drop-off rate?

Treatment drop-offs remain one of the most significant challenges across healthcare categories in India. In many cases, patients are clinically ready to proceed but delay or abandon treatment due to financial constraints.

Based on our experience across multiple healthcare segments, affordability is often the single largest non-clinical barrier preventing treatment adoption. When patients are given the option to spread costs through structured monthly payments, a substantial portion of these drop-offs can be recovered.

In categories such as fertility treatment, financial protection products can further improve conversion by addressing concerns around treatment outcomes. Patients become more willing to proceed when they know they have a financial safety net.

While treatment adoption varies by specialty, we have consistently observed meaningful improvements in patient conversion when financing is integrated into the care journey. As awareness grows, innovative healthcare financing has the potential to significantly reduce India’s treatment drop-off rate and improve overall healthcare utilisation.

Also read: Future-Proofing Allied Healthcare Education: Preparing India’s Workforce for the AI-Driven Healthcare Era

What are CarePay’s key expansion plans for the upcoming years?

CarePay’s long-term vision is to become the financial infrastructure layer for healthcare. We believe every patient should have access to affordable, intelligent and personalised financial solutions regardless of where they seek treatment.

We have built a strong network of clinics in secondary care like IVF, dentistry, cosmetology. Over the coming years, we plan to significantly expand our healthcare provider network across India, with particular emphasis on out-of-pocket expenditure in primary care as well. 

We will continue investing in AI-led innovations such as Careena AI (Care Engagement Assistant), our intelligent patient engagement assistant that combines personalised loan decisioning with a conversational interface. By making financing intuitive and available within seconds, Careena AI delivers faster approvals, a better patient experience, and greater financial inclusion. Our goal is to make healthcare financing as seamless and effortless as making a digital payment.

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