Belives Dr.Nagaraju Bathini, CEO, Sunshine Hospitals. Dr Bathini in an interaction with Ekta Srivastava, Health Technology, share his views on the present healthcare scenario of the country considering medical tourism as one of the major game changer
What is the concept underlying Sunshine Hospital? Any model that you emulate?
Our vision, mission & quality policy of our hospital reiterate the underlying concept of Sunshine Hospitals, our motto being “patient fist”.We emphasize on quality management standards to achieve efficacy in patient care and ensure quality & safety in patient care. Our hospital is accredited by NABH & ISO 9001:2000 and is edging towards becoming a hyper-competitive, multi chain & demand driven
OUR MISSION
- To offer Qualitative & Comprehensive Services in a Patient Friendly Environment focused on Clinical Excellence. Safety, Dignity, Transparency, while staying affordable and accessible to every Patient in Need.
OUR QUALITY POLICY
- To provide quality health care to the patients in a safe environment conforming to scientific and ethical standards by regular monitoring and sequential interaction with all stakeholders to meet the challenges and to achieve excellence in all spheres(of health care delivery).
OUR QUALITY OBJECTIVES
- Provide ethical health care to all
- Provide state-of-the-art equipment
- Provide reliable and updated diagnostic services
- Monitor all critical processes to ensure continuance of quality
- Ensure safety of patients, attendants, employees and visitors.
- Continuously improve customer satisfaction
- Engage credentialed professionals in all disciplines and services
- Introduce postgraduate courses in different clinical disciplines
- Continuous medical education for clinicians and regular training programmes for all other staff
- Increase employee satisfaction and decrease employee attrition rate
- Establish an efficient Hospital Information System to have paperless and permanent access to patient records
- Monitor and enhance patient care standards through ‘patient feedback’ as an effective tool
OUR STRENGTHS:
- Clinical acumen & Medical knowledge
- Systems Based practice
- Practice Based Learning and Improvement
- Patient Care
- Professionalism
- Interpersonal Skills and Communication
OUR HEALTH CARE MODEL:
Our model of health care is one with a Triple Aim – reducing cost, improving outcomes and improving patient experience.
We concentrate on personalized health solutions based on Patient experience benchmarks Using technology for patient information.
What are the centers of excellence at your hospital?
- Orthopaedics with all sub – superspecialties including our globally renowned joint replacement surgeries – our MD Dr.Gurava Reddy is globe no.2 in numbers and our hospital ranks number 2 in Asia
- Highly specialized spine centre
- CT surgery & cardiology
- Internal medicine & infectious diseases
- Neurosciences
- Critical care
- Level I trauma centre
- Hepato biliary centre including medical and surgical gastroenterology
- Plastic & reconstructive surgery
- Nephorlogy with in house dialysis unit
- Urosciences with live and cadaver transplant unit
- SMART academy for research and training
Your opinion about the emergence and growth of single specialty hospital?
Not in favour of single speciality hospital
- We believe in corporate conglomeration of health care services and the concept of “ for profit health care organization” and rapid diversification of health care services – providing all superspecialty services under one roof.
- Autonomization and corporatization are reforms that give health care organizations like ours greater autonomy and rely on market or “market-like” incentives to generate pressures to improve performance.
What are the technological advancements your hospital has introduced lately in different verticals?
We use IT and HIMS extensively through out the hospital to facilitate services and communication to patients, staff and consultants eg:- ATR – Any Time Report – patient can collect his reports at any time from any kiosk in hospital by showing Bar code printed over his bill to in built bar code reader.
We targeted now for paperless hospitals which shall improve transparency, accountability and preciseness.
It saves lot of time and minimizes TAT
Pneumatic chute systems to transport blood samples, medicines any where to any where in the hospital saves lot of man hours and prompt service
Your core strengths?
- Leadership and empowerment for partners, physicians and staff
2. Top management drive and clinical governance
3. Strong Financial capital - Aligned organizational and financial incentives
5. Well-defined, established care management practices
6. Clinical and health IT
7. Continuous quality improvement processes
8. Robust capabilities and alignment of patient care services
9. Improved quality of care, measured by patient experience, clinical outcomes and functional health status
10. Increased efficiency/lower cost
What’s your vision for Sunshine Hospital and how affordable it is for Indians?
OUR VISION is “To Create a World –Class Medical Facility Where Patients are treated with Compassion”.
- Affordability standards are maintained despite an over all increase in total health expenditures across the nation.
- We have undertaken the daunting task of balancing provision of good quality health care for all ensuring affordability.
- Specified guidelines as per MOUs and agreements for third party insurers and corporate company payors and transparent tariff structures for “pay from pocket” clientele are our strengths.
- Through Government health schemes we cater to the “below poverty line clientele.
What are the roadblocks and challenges in Indian healthcare?
Indian Healthcare landscape is set on the path to epic transformations with a paradigm change precipitating at an accelerating pace aided by big data, e-commerce revolution and a transition into sharing economy. It is a euphemism of the enormity of a challenge that belies the rapid evolution of this industry.
Road blocks include :
- Restricted insurance policies prevalent in India
- Health care cannot be provided free of cost in entirety
- Increased gap between rising costs of goods and delivery of services at an affordable price
The challenges include:
- Keeping up in pace with the rapid proliferation of technological advancements transforming the health care industry
- Focusing on patient centric care and management
- Increasing data demands for clinical and administrative leadership
- Maintaining data security and patient confidentiality
Please tell us about the emergency services of your hospital?
Our emergency services department is a “Level I Trauma Center “. It is a comprehensive regional resource that is a tertiary care facility central to the trauma system capable of providing total care for every aspect of injury – from prevention through rehabilitation.
Elements of our Level I Trauma Centers Include:
- 24-hour in-house coverage by general surgeons, and prompt availability of care in specialties such as orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, anesthesiology, emergency medicine, radiology, internal medicine, plastic surgery, oral and maxillofacial, and critical care.
- Referral resource for communities in nearby regions.
- Provides continuing education of the trauma team members.
- Incorporates a comprehensive quality assessment program.
- Operates an organized teaching and research effort to help direct new innovations in trauma care.
- Program for substance abuse screening and patient intervention.
- Meets minimum requirement for annual volume of severely injured patients.
- Provides leadership in prevention, public education to surrounding communities
How important is insurance in making healthcare affordable?
Having health insurance is important for several reasons. Lack of insurance is a fiscal burden for them and their families.
The following are the advantages of health insurance:
- Better health outcomes,driven by a consistent source of health care.
- Better access to preventive health care services,with health insurance companies alerting members when and where to get diagnostic screenings such as mammograms and colonoscopies. People without health insurance tend to postpone prevention, leading to later diagnoses of illnesses, complications and higher costs in the long-run. Uninsured cancer patients are diagnosed later and die earlier compared to those with insurance.
- Access to prescription drugs,where uninsured people are five times as likely not to get needed medications. Many prescriptions take care of many chronic conditions like high blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes and asthma. Unchecked and untreated, these conditions can worsen and lead people to hospital emergency rooms which cost a lot.
- A more productive work life,enhancing job security and satisfaction. There is evidence that employees’ lower out-of-pocket costs raise productivity at the workplace. Furthermore, employers are expanding wellness programs to help workers improve personal health status and bolster productivity on-the-job — and, ultimately, corporate profits.
- Better financial health, where insured people can usually access health care services at cheaper rates. Access to insurance allows consumers to take advantage of discounts negotiated by health plans with hospitals and doctors compared with paying for services on your own.
Health insurance boosts the link between health and wealth. The uninsured are three times more likely than the insured to be unable to pay for basic necessities because of their medical bills. Uninsured people are also more likely to use up their savings on medical care.Good health insurance covers catastrophic costs when people get very sick – requiring long and successive hospital admissions and expensive treatments.
How is the flow of international patients and how good is medical tourism at Sunshine Hospital?
Sunshine hospitals situated in Hyderabad will be a top destinations for foreign visitors due to following reasons:
Sunshine hospitals is a perfect destination for medical tourism that combines health treatment with visit to some of the most alluring and awe-inspiring places of the world. A growing number of tourists are flocking in large numbers because of the superlative medical care, equipments and facilities our hospitals offers.
What makes it so attractive?
Foremost is the cost factor along with state-of-the-art facilities and diagnostic services besides unsurpassed skills of clinicians
- Our technology and procedures are on par with hospitals in developed nations.
- Foreign patients can get package deals including flights, transfers, hotels, treatment and post-operative vacation for their medical visits to India.
- Many foreign patients prefer to combine their leisure and relaxation visits to India with healthcare, Twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad score on their historic and tourist value too.
- The Government of India has declared that treating of foreign patients is legal. It is encouraging medical tourism in the country by offering tax breaks and export incentives to participating hospitals. In addition, the Government has cleared medical visas.
The following national tourism trends have also helped us in tapping medical tourism:
1) Growing Medical tourism market: Health care tourism has been a key growth sector for more than a decade. Growing insurance market, strong pharmaceutical industry, cheap international travel, and quality health care are increasingly making India a preferred tourist destination. India hosts about 1.27 million tourists from countries such as the US, UK, and Canada in addition to visitors from neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and China.
This market includes secondary players from the tourism industry who greatly benefit from visitors to India. The government estimates that the growth of health-related services will be more than 5 percent for the next 10 years and that should further attract more such visitors
2) Tourists come to India for economic reasons and market attractiveness. Clearly, there are economic advantages for choosing English-speaking India for certain procedures.
3) Based Quality hotels, added tourism opportunities, and high-quality hospital care are the biggest reasons for this trend.
4) Infrastructure and better health-related investments will decide the future. While all trends point towards an increasing demand for medical services in India, some key factors will determine whether medical tourism becomes India’s next crown jewel, like our Information Technology industry.
Your suggestion to make India a healthcare destination?
The medical tourism industry in India is presently earning revenues of nearly more than $2.5 billion per annum. To provide for brighter prospects for the industry, the hospitals can also acquire international accreditation, integrate traditional and clinical treatments and offer end-to-end value added services by tying up with tour operators, airline carriers and hotel companies.
Hospitals can also allow foreign patients to pay through credit and ensure proper support services to foreign patients after they return to their native countries.
Lastly, the Government of India can also reinforce its support through quick visa processing, improved flight connectivity and infrastructure development.
