ISB MIHM | Healthcare Matters Volume 2, Issue 1, 2022

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Health Matters is the quarterly newsletter of Max Institute of Healthcare Management (MIHM) at the Indian School of Business (ISB) and curates the latest healthcare-related research, events, and updates at ISB. Happy reading!

NCD MANAGEMENT / DIGITAL HEALTH

Can e-clinics bridge the gap in rural care delivery?

Maternal and child health are closely linked to the health status of a population. The health of an adolescent girl impacts the health of newborn and under-5 children. While India is ‘off course’ to meet many of its nutritional and health goals, the numbers take a new form when seen in the urban-rural light. A huge disparity exists between the urban and rural areas in terms of health infrastructure, with about 75% of health infrastructure being concentrated in urban areas where only 27% of the total population resides. Information and communication technologies (ICT) hold enormous potential to bridge this divide and provide cost-effective, high-quality care delivery in rural areas.

MIHM conducted an impact evaluation study of one such innovative intervention implemented by Karma Healthcare in the states of Rajasthan and Haryana that leverages ICT to connect patients in rural and far-flung regions with doctors in urban centres through e-clinics, thereby reducing costs incurred on transportation and travel. Primarily focused on under-5 children, adolescents, and mothers, the e-clinics have improved not only the knowledge and awareness among the people accessing the facility but also impacted their health-seeking behaviour positively. We observed a decreased prevalence of diarrhoea, anaemia and pneumonia in children under-5 while 20% adolescents in the study village reported excellent health over the past year as compared to nearly 15% in other villages. About 51% women reported better health as compared to last year (32.89%).

Driving timely immunisation of infants through
ICT and incentives

Despite a significant increase in immunisation coverage in India, about two-thirds of all types of deaths in children aged below five years of age are due to diseases that can be prevented by vaccines. A major underlying factor behind these deaths is a delay in vaccination. MIHM designed an intervention to assess the feasibility of ICT interventions in improving the timely immunisation of infants as part of a study funded by Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (JPAL). The intervention was implemented in four blocks of the Muzaffarpur district in Bihar with the help of FRHS.

We selected and trained frontline healthworkers to participate in the study and created an ICT platform to auto-generate vaccine duelists. Simultaneously, a call centre was established to register births and make reminder calls to primary caregivers and mothers and gave out pay-for-performance incentives to ASHA workers for timely immunisation of infants in their blocks. The findings of the study show that pay-for-performance incentives to ASHA workers, conditional on timely administration of vaccines, improve the overall timeliness of vaccination. The integrated ICT platform automated the workflow of auxiliary nurse midwives and improved the overall timeliness of vaccination.

NEW STUDIES

Impact of adherence monitoring methods on medication adherence and clinical outcomes of Tuberculosis patients in India

Evaluation of India's TB
private sector engagement
strategy

Funder: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

PUBLICATION SPOTLIGHT

Utilization trends of a government-sponsored health insurance programme in south india: 2014 to 2018
The authors studied the impact of the Rajiv Aarogyasri Scheme in Andhra Pradesh, India over a span of four years and found that the scheme achieved lower costs per claim with a concurrent decline in mortality. The paper presents findings from the study and identifies which districts have increased and decreased their ability to serve the healthcare needs of their residents more fully.

Authors: Preeti Singh, Dr. Adam C Powell | Published in ScienceDirect

OPINIONS

Omicron: Why a potential surge might need hybrid testing: Nimmy Dominic, Pankaj Jindal, Ashish Sachdeva, Sarang Deo | IndiaSpend

Need for national digital readiness within the Indian healthcare system: Vijaya Sunder M | Forbes India

HEALTHNET

ISB Advaita 2021’s Healthcare Case Competition

MIHM and Healthcare SIG at ISB supported the Healthcare Club in hosting a Healthcare Case Challenge as part of ISB’s flagship event Advaita 2021. About 111 entries were received from 25 B-Schools across India, out of which 5 teams competed in the finale held on December 12, 2021 to devise a go-to-market strategy for a company developing tech solutions for the pharma industry. The winning teams won cash prizes worth ₹50,000, and ₹25,000, respectively.

WINNERS

WIMWIAN_Acers

IIM Ahmedabad

RUNNERS-UP

Outliers

IIHMR Jaipur

INTRODUCING AMPH CO 2022

students

90%

clinicians

average years
of experience

Diversity profile: Participants from 25 cities | 43% women | 60% postgraduates | 35% from top management | Representation from public health sector, pharma, nursing, med-devices, insurance, and healthtech.

ALUMNI APPOINTMENT ALERTS


Shyam Krishnan, PGPMAX Co 2019 CFO, Ascent Meditech


Dr. Venkat Ramana Sudigali, AMPH Co 2021 CEO, Equitable Healthcare Access Consortium


Dr. Birendra Yadav, AMPH Co 2022 AVP, Aditya Birla Health Insurance

IN THE NEWS

ISB to support Hyderabad-based medicine firm to scale up | Telangana Today

Why doctors need to upskill through management courses | Education Times

ABOUT US

Max Institute of Healthcare Management (MIHM) is an interdisciplinary research centre at the Indian School of Business (ISB) that provides deep insights on healthcare delivery and management to policymakers, public institutions, and corporates, and enables the creation of better health systems through the integrated elements of Research, Education and Outreach. Its focus areas are (a) Managing healthcare delivery systems, (b) Financing and public policy, (c) Innovation and entrepreneurship, and (d) Patient-centricity / consumer behaviour.

Write to us at maxinstitute@isb.edu.