👩⚕️ Fintech Meets Healthcare!
The entire healthcare supply chain has one problem: lack of money. Here's how one startup is trying to solve this.
India, the land of the Ayurveda, is unfortunately one of the top 20 unhealthiest countries in the world now.
While this problem is caused mainly by lack of nutrition, air pollution and genetic reasons, there is one reason why this problem is growing worse by the day.
Yes, one roadblock in the healthcare infrastructure threatens the lives of many.
Wondering what it is? ReadOn!
👀 Being Healthy Only for the Wealthy?
Money.
India has one of the lowest healthcare costs in the world.
One session of chemotherapy costs only around $55-$800, whereas in the US the same session costs $20,000-$60,000.
Still 40% of Indian patients who get chemotherapy cannot afford it.
In fact in 2017, 55 million people were driven into poverty due to healthcare costs.
But wait, don't we have health insurance for such situations?
Yes, despite the government launching a health insurance scheme, only 41% of Indian households have at least one health insurance policy.
65% of all healthcare spending in India is out of pocket expenses.
And let's assume you do have an insurance policy. You may still face a cash crunch if you are going for a surgery or a major medical procedure. How?
💸 The Cash Crunch Problem
Unless you have a cashless insurance policy, you have to pay for the procedure out of your own pocket and the insurance agency will reimburse you later.
For a common man, this could be a nightmare.
And now let's assume you do have a cashless policy, then it is a nightmare for the hospital.
Wait, why?
Because the insurance reimbursement process takes time and it blocks precious cash for the hospital that it could have used to pay off suppliers.
And because it cannot pay off suppliers immediately, suppliers face a cash crunch, causing the whole healthcare supply chain to suffer.
This in turn impacts patient treatments, causing delays which could be potentially harmful.
But don't worry, a startup is trying to solve this problem.
DigiSparsh, a fintech startup, wants to make the whole healthcare value chain more efficient by financing patients, hospitals and suppliers.
It is one of the first fintechs in India that is solving the problem of the entire healthcare value chain.
To patients, it provides loans of up to Rs. 5 lakhs at a 0% interest.
The loan amount is directly transferred to the hospital/service provider in 24 hours.
To hospitals waiting for reimbursements, it provides up front payment, taking the reimbursement from the insurance company later itself.
And for suppliers waiting for hospitals to pay their bills, it provides invoice discounting. Basically, it pays the bills on the hospital's behalf (keeping a small cut for itself). And then later it collects the full amount from the hospital itself.
Wondering how exactly DigiSparsh manages to do all this?
Well, it first connects and partners with NBFCs.
These NBFCs are the ones who provide the whole supply chain with the money.
And for onboarding customers, DigiSparsh connects with healthcare aggregators like Practo and PharmEasy, which are accessed by those looking for healthcare.
📃 Let's Look At the Numbers
The Healthcare Finance Market is worth $135 billion and growing at a CAGR of 16%.
And though DigiSparsh has several competitors in the patient financing space (which accounts for over 65% of its business) like Bajaj Finance, Unofin, LetsMD and more, there are hardly any players in the hospital and supplier financing side.
It has sourced loans worth Rs. 40 crores so far, with average NPAs (bad loans) of approximately 2.5%.
And that's not all, it has several other ideas and projects in the pipeline and aims to become a healthcare neobank in the future.
Wondering how it plans to make this vision come true?
Join us for an Insider Insights session with DigiSparsh's co-founder, Saurabh Soni, on July 23, Saturday 7 pm.
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