2^nd Annual Healthcare Conference organized by Goa Institute of Management (GIM) deemed a great success by all the conference attendees. The conference took place in the heart of Goa at Taj Vivanta, Panaji on 8^th of February, 2020. GIM’s think tank brought together a full spectrum of experts and change makers including company presidents, CEOs, government ministers, health insurers and providers, fintech startups, financing experts, and NGOs to discuss an important topic of “Accelerating and Sustaining Investments for Financing India’s Healthcare Needs”. Over 170 delegates from across the country, consisting of doctors, healthcare managers, academicians, researchers and students attended the event who wanted to know about the findings and way forward of the financial challenges in healthcare sector.

Prof. Arif Raza Head of Health Care Management at Goa Institute of Management and Mr. Anjan Bose, Executive in Residence, Advisory & Mentoring Support at GIM with HCM Team played a key role in constructing the conference program and making it successful event.

“It is very gratifying to see many top healthcare leaders from both public and private sectors have got together to discuss a very relevant topic of accelerating and sustaining investments for financing India’s healthcare needs. Healthcare issues will only be resolved by such efforts and conferences, where everyone comes and discuss together on solutions. It will be very fruitful for the progress of nation and the health of the nation and towards the healthcare sector of the nation.” said the Executive in Residence, Mr. Anjan Bose- Advisory & Mentoring Support at GIM.

“The startup ecosystem is revolutionizing Healthcare but the government is not tapping into this system. We need a platform where startups and the government can work together”, said the chief guest, Mr. Vishwajit P. Rane, Honorable Minister of Health, Govt. of Goa. Mr Rane spoke about the importance of public – private partnerships. The government cannot do everything by itself. Tying up with the private partners and also tap medical tourism in Goa is the way forward. He also mentioned that Goa is the only state to spend more than 100 Crores on free medication.

The keynote speaker Mr. Alok Kumar, Advisor, NITI Ayog, Government of India, said, “Pouring more money will not solve the problem for Indian Healthcare Sector. We need to focus on systems rather than schemes. States are really diverse, where they need be to more active in design thinking of integrated models at state and the district level. A central Healthcare model will not work if there is such disparity among States. Each State needs to implement health systems based on their local requirements.”

Mr. R. Chandrashekhar, Chairman, Centre for The Digital Future, said, “We should avoid creating a perfect world in digital Healthcare when the physical space is still disorganized. Technology can be manipulated to be personalized to each individual and be scalable to all 7 Billion people at the same time. The nature of technology is dynamic, and it is disruptive for policies to anticipate the outcome”

Hon Brig. Dr. Arvind Lal (Padma Shri), Chairman and Managing Director, Dr. Lal Path Labs stressed that great investment in healthcare is the need of the hour. “The government has made significant strides in the healthcare space. To see greater improvements, the government needs to immediately increase the financial allocation for the dispensing of healthcare from a mere 1% out of a total of 3.9% of GDP to 2.5% of GDP. A good starting point would be to spend an extra 0.5% of GDP every year on healthcare for the next three years. Unfortunately, in the latest budget, the allocation is up only 7% against last year’s budgeted estimate and we may miss the target of the earlier stated aim of the Union Government of spending 2.5% of GDP by 2025.

Dr. Kheya Furtado, Assistant Professor of Goa Institute of Management presented findings from a WHO funded study conducted for the National Health Authority, Government of India on ‘Strategic purchasing in the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana through the Trust and Insurance model’. She emphasized that claim audits need to be facilitated by tools such as STGs and long- term capacities need to be built and retained in the public Trusts for management of claims. As scheme utilization increases, costs are likely to change, especially in Insurance model States due to the sharing of financial losses that may lead to larger premiums charged to States by Insurance companies. Contract terms with insurance companies must be closely monitored and address these potential changes. Differential pricing may be developed to incentivize larger hospitals to participate in the scheme. Incentives based on hospital infrastructure, location etc. may also be developed in addition to the base rate, to address supply side constraints.

Dr. Ajit Parulekar, Director, Goa Institute of Management said “We run several cutting edge programmes and GIM’s Healthcare Programme is the finest in the country. This second edition of the conference is furthering GIM’s objective of being a management thought-promoter and providing a platform for meaningful discussions in the healthcare domain.”

OBJECTIVE OF THE CONFERENCE

India has made significant strides in healthcare over the last few decades, with key indicators of health outcomes showing marked improvement. Both the public and private sectors have contributed to improved health outcomes. Various government initiatives have mobilized communities on health, and enabled increased access to public health services while ensuring higher utilization of available infrastructure. However, India’s total healthcare expenditure at less than 5% of its GDP is much less that most countries of the world, which is stalling the pace of development in healthcare of the country. Out of pocket expenditure (OOP) constitutes more than 60% of all health expenses which is a major drawback in a country like India where a large segment of the population is economically backward. Appropriate healthcare financing is a means to ensure that adequate funds for healthcare is available to provide equitable access to all population groups and reduce financial barriers to utilize health services. In spite of many healthcare financing schemes in the country, there is a perceived difficulty in achieving this goal. This conference is mainly focused on how to accelerate and sustain funds for India’s health system.

Two Panel discussions were conducted at 2^nd Annual Healthcare Conference organized by Goa Institute of Management (GIM)

Panel 1 – Challenges and Opportunities of current healthcare Investment Climate in India

Understanding the opportunities and challenges is the first step in attracting, accelerating and sustaining investments in healthcare. Through this panel discussion prevailing investment climate in healthcare sector will be discussed.

Hony Brig. Dr. Arvind Lal (Padma Shri), Chairman and Managing Director, Dr. Lal PathLabs
Mr. Alok Kumar, Advisor, NITI Ayog, Government of India
Dr. H Sudarshan Ballal, Chairman, MHEPL and Medical Advisory Board, Manipal Hospitals Group
Ms. Sheena Chhabra, Senior Health Specialist, World Bank
Mr. Sunil Thakur, Managing Director, Quadria Capital, New Delhi
Mr. Rohit Sathe, President, Philips Health Systems, Indian Subcontinent
Mr. Anjan Bose, Founding Secretary General, NATHEALTH (Retd.) – (Moderator)

Panel 2 – Disruptive trends that impact cost of healthcare

Healthcare is in a transition mode with innovative technological solution being utilized for complex healthcare issues. Many of these innovations are disruptive in nature and has the potential of making healthcare highly cost efficient. This panel discussion will focus on what are these upcoming trends, how promising are they and how are they going to shape up the healthcare of future.

Dr. Ashok Rajgopal, Group Chairman, Institute of Musculoskeletal Disorders and Orthopedics, Medanta
Mr. R Chandrashekhar, Chairman, Centre for The Digital Future, Former Secretary Electronics & IT, GOI Former Chairman Telecom Commission and Secretary, Department of Telecom, GOI, Former President, NASSCOM
Ms. Meena Ganesh, Managing Director & CEO, Portea Medical
Mr. Sanjay Murdeshwar, Managing Director, Novartis, India
Mr. Abhay Shukla, Senior Director, Data Science, Optum Global Solutions
Mr. Nalinikant Gollagunta, President & CEO, GE Healthcare – South Asia; Managing Director – Wipro GE
Dr. Ajit Parulekar, Director, Goa Institute of Management (Moderator)

Glimpse of 2nd Annual Healthcare Conference organized by Goa Institute of Management: