ASEAN is grappling with underdeveloped public-sector healthcare infrastructure and rising demand due to its ageing population and increase in chronic diseases.
Governments are looking for solutions to reduce this burden and more effectively serve their citizens. At the same time, the private sector is looking to modernise its facilities to capture the growth from higher incomes and the surge in medical tourism.
These trends create opportunities for medical device companies to partner with governments and private players across ASEAN to help them realise their goals. Medical device companies can partner with government to enable care to be delivered through alternative points such as nursing homes, retirement homes, and residences. They can also work with private players to develop state-of-the-art technology and processes in the new hospitals or help upgrade the existing technology and processes.
Medical device companies should look to work with hospital providers and developers to incorporate the devices in retirement homes and other facilities for eldercare. By partnering with them at early stages, medtech companies can ensure that home and eldercare devices can be built into the projects at the time of construction.
Currently, public awareness regarding home care products is low. The current system also doesn’t incentivise moving to home care. Medical device companies need to drive shifts in the mind-sets and behaviours that will result in the adoption of changes in technology and delivery models.
Government, insurers, medtech companies, and hospital providers must come together to successfully penetrate this opportunity area.
Saudi Arabia is seeking to transform its healthcare system, in order to offer advanced medical services and increased research capabilities.
GE is working with various hospitals across the country to conduct pilots and proof-of-concept tests. GE Healthcare has signed a US$30 million agreement to support Anfas Medical Care’s new 120-bed specialty facility, which will cater to chronic pulmonary patients requiring long-term rehabilitation and intensive care.
Through this partnership, GE is providing comprehensive, long-term support (technological and advisory) in building a robust and sustainable healthcare infrastructure for Saudi Arabia. As part of this, it is looking to implement the latest clinical workflows and operational processes, which will deliver increased capacity and patient throughput, high-quality care, and reduced hospital stays.
The partnership has helped enhance the GE brand and allowed it to gain significant market share. According to GE, about 90 percent of Saudi hospitals deploy GE technology.272
Example:
GE’s Partnership with Hospitals in Saudi Arabia
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Alternative care models — benefits
Reduced costs: The alternative care delivery model can help reduce the number of hospital visits, reduce the length of stay in hospitals, and reduce overall costs.
For example, a pilot study was conducted by Philips and Banner Health in the United States on using technology as a means of providing remote care for patients.
The findings from the study indicated a 27 percent reduction in the cost of care, a 32 percent reduction in acute and long-term care costs, and a 45 percent reduction in hospitalisations.273
Improved health outcomes: The home care devices can provide real-time monitoring of physical activity, vital signs, and other metrics. This data can be used to better manage chronic illnesses and predict if and when an intervention will be necessary. This can improve the overall health outcomes and reduce the number of hospitalisations and emergency room visits.
Digital solutions for medtech
With increasing mobile penetration and rapid technological advancements, digital solutions for medical devices can be used to address healthcare challenges in ASEAN.
Technology trends such as mobility, advanced analytics, big data, robotics, and connectivity are affecting medical technology with increasing speed.
For example, large rural communities across ASEAN have limited access to health services, which creates a niche market for mobile-based healthcare services and telemedicine, making use of wearable devices, app- based diagnostics, and remote consultations.
ASEAN is well positioned to adopt digital solutions such as these thanks to widespread internet and mobile connectivity and the increasing penetration of cheaper smartphones. However, countries in ASEAN are at different stages of digital adoption in healthcare. At one end is Singapore, whose National Electronic Health Record (NEHR) system was rolled out in 2011. This allows patient healthcare records to be shared across the entire healthcare system. As of December 2017, healthcare professionals from over 1,200 healthcare providers across all care settings have access to the National Electronic Health Record (NEHR). This includes all the public healthcare institutions, all community hospitals, slightly more than half of GP clinics, clinical laboratories, and approximately 70 percent of nursing homes.274 Singapore intends to take the next major step for the NEHR, mandating data contribution by all licensees, such as healthcare providers and laboratories, so as to improve data comprehensiveness for better patient care.275 It is looking to increasingly move health information to the cloud. Future developments will also include the use of data analytics to support both decision making at the point of care and national planning for the Ministry of Health. Singapore is also starting to use robotics, artificial intelligence, and chatbots in nursing homes and acute care facilities.
At the other end of the scale are countries like Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam, whose infrastructure is underdeveloped and impedes the adoption of digital healthcare. However, startups and low-cost solutions are emerging that can help in digitising healthcare in these countries. Two examples are ConnectedHealth and Lifetrack Medical Systems.
ConnectedHealth (headquartered in Singapore) offers a platform that is compatible with medical devices, allowing for remote monitoring of patients from healthcare, nursing, and fitness providers.
ConnectedHealth’s eHealth platform product is the first to provide an end-to-end connected solution for remote health management. ConnectedHealth sells its eHealth platform to healthcare providers that seek to reduce the cost of patient care by keeping patients who can be cared for remotely out of hospitals.276
The Philippines’ Lifetrack Medical Systems provides a digital radiology platform by leveraging cloud services.
The technology enables doctors in emerging markets to send X-rays and scans to senior radiologists overseas in order to obtain accurate diagnoses on a patient’s condition.277
“ New medical device technologies are being developed and coming onto the market at an exponential pace.
Companies and regulators need to keep pace with the latest technology, changing regulatory landscape and threats around patient safety.
Dr. Zubin J Daruwalla Director, Healthcare Lead South East Asia Consulting PwC Singapore
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